THE GRANDDAUGHTERS of a former Jaguar boss thought they would never get to see his beloved car – until it turned up in auction 70 years later.
Former deputy chairman Arthur Whittaker ordered his Jaguar Mk IV in December 1948 and he kept the saloon until 1950. Over the next 67 years it had a number of owners and underwent a refurbishment.
But little would Arthur have thought that all those years later his granddaughters Lucy, Sally and Charlotte would own the car.
It appeared in an auction in Surrey, and the sisters decided to go along and see the old vehicle and place a bid, which they won – paying nearly £70,000.
It will now return to eldest granddaughter Lucy Whittaker’s home in Kenilworth – just a short drive from the former Jaguar factory in Browns Lane, Coventry, where it was originally manufactured.
Lucy said: “We’d never bought a thing at auction before, but were determined to take it home if we could afford to.
“It was all a bit of a whirlwind and suddenly, the hammer came down and it was ours.”
Arthur Whittaker joined Jaguar when he was just 17 years-old and the company was still called Swallow Side Cars.
He eventually became chief assistant to founder William Lyons and stayed with the company for some 50 years, later becoming a director on the board.
