Please e-mail us with any suggestions for cars you would like to see available for rental at Summer Wine Classics. Drop us a line at info@swcch.co.uk

Thanks

Richard Skelton

1973 Jaguar XJ6 4.2 Series II

This superb car was the most painful of all for us to part with. The original interior was delightfully patinated (nicely worn in) and the body was completely solid. The brakes and suspension were sorted for us by IK Classics and driving in this big saloon was like wearing velvet underpants! In our view the styling of these luxury cars was a true William Lyons masterpiece but the groovy green sand seventies colour seems to have put people off hiring it.

After agonising for weeks, and then nearly changing our minds at the last moment, we sold this splendid saloon car to Mr Roger O'Sullivan of County Cork in Ireland. Roger keeps it in fine fettle along with his early MBG Roadster and we have an open invitation to take it for a spin if we are ever in the Emerald Isle.

1978 MGB Roadster

Rubber bumper 1970s MGBs are unpopular compared with the earlier chrome bumpered versions as changes made to the model to comply with crackpot US safety legislation strangled its performance and ruined its handling. But our super 1978 roadster had those issues rectified and it cornered and accelerated like an MGB should. Furthermore the car had flawless bodywork and was in fabulous mechanical condition, having had a great deal of love and attention and many thousands of pounds lavished on it by its previous owners.

Sadly, such is the prejudice against these misunderstood classic vehicles, it was rarely picked by our hirers and eventually we could no longer justify keeping it on the fleet alongside our more popular 1964 chrome bumpered MGB Roadster. The car was sold locally to an MGB enthusiast and it is now a regular on the MGB Car Club rally scene.

1955 Jaguar Mark VIIM

I fell in love with this splendid and aristocratic Cornish grey saloon with its fantastic red leather and walnut interior and bought it as our flagship wedding car but unfortunately it proved to be something of a grey elephant. Brides and grooms didn't share my feelings about it and when it became apparent there was plastic body filler all around the lower body and in the bottoms of the doors it became clear the car was not up to the high standards of the rest of the Summer Wine Classics fleet. The problem was extensive and the cost of rectification prohibitive. I had made a mistake and it was time to say goodbye.

In order to sell this huge historic Jaguar at a price we felt was fair we lost a great deal of money but at least we can sleep at night! The selling price was set low to enable the new owner to budget to improve the bodywork if he so wished and as the car had a completely rebuilt engine and a great many other good points the deal was more than reasonable. The experience cost us dearly but we have learned from it. The Mk VII's history file showed the car was once a dearly loved and much cherished vehicle. Let's hope that is now the case once again.