Whitehead Peter Whitehead a regular visitor to Australia on business, was the first Jaguar Le Mans winner and favoured by Lofty England. With him and his brother Graham is his XK150S prototype.
Same car
That car was fitted with the very first XK150 engine, and later came to Australia where the wire wheels were swapped by the first owner there. It is now in Perth, off the road, and has been owned for decades by Terry McGrath.
Rudi The XK150 was the least like a competition model of the three types. However, still quite a few did race, including one by Don Thallon in Brisbane, Bill Hemming n Melbourne and Rudi Vanderelst in Geelong West. Each were fast, and here Rudi dodges the spinning XK120 RHD chassis #17.
Peter Allen Peter Allen on piano was a young musician when he purchased an XK150S FHC from the Geoghegan brothers in Sydney. The car was taken off the road later with a damaged, but repairable, head.
Editor's In 1972 it was purchased with the engine still not running, from Roydons of Lakemba. It was brought to Melbourne by the editor's family, and stayed with it until 2004. It remains in Victoria and is much loved still.
Tasmania
A forgotten XK150 when near new was a FHC raced in Tasmania by Don Gorringe. Here it is being pressed hard at Longford by John Goss in the FJ Holden. Goss would be a Jaguar hero in years to come.
Press Racing driver Roy Salvadori was tasked by Autocar magazine with testing Jaguar's Press XK150S 3.4. That was in February 1958, and the car was RHD FHC chassis #46 registered VDU 882.
In decline
Like all models the XK150 went through a period of decline until they were valuable enough to spend the money needed for a restoration. This sad DHC was at XK Day in England in 1976, and no doubt is pristine now.
Mystery
This new XK150 was constantly parked on the start/finish line at the Gnoo Blas racing track in Orange, NSW. We have no idea who owned it, or where it is now. We can see it is a 3.4 litre model and not an S. Can a reader help us solve that?
