Real Jaguar D-Type on the Streets of London!
Watch a multi-million-dollar Jaguar D-Type navigate London traffic in the rain.
The Jaguar D-Type is without question one of the most beautiful cars ever created. It is also one of the most valuable. The D-Type is not just a beauty queen, they are real performers as well. To be able to catch a glimpse of one in a museum would be a treat, let alone to see one out in the wild. Less than 100 were ever made. To see one of these legends on busy city streets, well that just doesn’t happen very often. Yet the folks at TFJJ on YouTube were able to capture just such a moment and share the video with the rest of us.
What makes this video so amazing and special, is that the car is not doing anything amazing or special. The car is not racing at high speeds or drifting around the bends. The stunning Jaguar is just driving along at low speeds. It is trundling along in traffic. It is just a mundane drive through the city in anything but a mundane car. There is something deeply satisfying about watching a race car like this do just ordinary things. By the way, this whole drive was done in the rain. This instantly makes your excuse for not driving your own collector car in the rain totally invalid. Unless your collector car also happens to be an open-top race car worth more than $15 million dollars.
The other nice thing about this clip is that it is not ruined with music or talking during the drive. There is not a lot more to be heard other than the natural sound of the environment. The rain, the traffic sounds and of course, the beautiful melody made by the car itself. The changing of the gears, the sound of the lovely DOHC inline six-cylinder, that is really all you need. Insomniacs, ditch your white noise machine, fall asleep to this instead.
The D-Type was a car ahead of its time. A beautiful design by Malcom Sayers was fortified with cutting edge technology. The D-Type moved from using a space frame to a lighter and more rigid magnesium alloy monocoque. The monocoque had a subframe which had the engine welded onto it. Modern race cars today still use monocoque designs. The advances paid off for Jaguar as a D-Type won Le Mans in 1955, 1956 and 1957.
This particular car was headed to the London Classic Car Show held at Olympia London on the weekend of February 20. The show featured many world-class modern and vintage cars for spectators to view. However, as good as the show was inside, we think the highlight had to be on the roads surrounding Olympia. This amazing Jaguar was putting on its own show for anyone passing by. If you are thinking of staking out the streets next year the show will be held February 18 – 21. Who knows, you might just see one of the most beautiful race cars of all-time drive by.
Photos: TFJJ