OKVI'S DOUBLE IDENTITY

OKV1 is one of the most famous D-Types with an eventful life in the UK, Europe and Australia, but we were shocked to find it is not the car we thought it was.

- LES. HUGHES

D-TYPE OKV1 IS PRECIOUS, HISTORIC AND LIVED IN SYDNEY FOR MANY YEARS WHERE it was enjoyed by Jaguar devotees at numerous Club events, and astounded onlookers anywhere between its home, Melbourne and elsewhere.

It is the first works racing D-Type built, along with two sister cars, and at Le Mans in 1954 it finished a very close second. Legally it should have won despite a crash and fuel blockages, because the leading Ferrari was illegally push-started at the last stop. OKV1 was second again at Reims weeks later in the 12 Hour classic - having led. Its engine expired at Dundrod in Northern Ireland during the running of the Tourist Trophy, and its final works role was as a display at the Paris Salon in November. After that it was sold to, and raced by, its Le Mans co-driver, Duncan Hamilton.

But prepare yourself for a significant surprise. The OKV1 D-Type sold to Hamilton in January 1955 was not his 1954 Le Mans racer ... that car has been scrapped.

Duncan Hamilton privately raced OKV1 for himself, or friends Peter and Graham Whitehead plus Michael Head, but not before it was road-tested by John Bolster for Autosport magazine. Events included the exotic Morocco GP, Dakar GP, Oulton Park, Goodwood, Montlhery, Helsinki and Oporto in Portugal. Hamilton then sold it in 1956 to equally larger than life English-born Australian John ‘Jumbo’ Goddard. Gruffin appearance, but delightfully engaging, Jumbo was very cultivated - and totally unconventional. Unmarried most of his life, he was an engineer with the revenue to indulge his passion for sail and steam boats, steam trains, rare clocks and fast cars.