Through the years many specials have been build on Jaguar chassis. Many of them saw the light of day in a garden shed and others were built in a professional manner. This Jaguar 3.8 Litre Special fits in the second category. The creator of this Jaguar Special was the Englishman Graham Garrett who earlier built a SS 100 replica. This one should be different and offer lots of driving fun, comfort, interior room and luggage space. Garrett found a 1959 Jaguar Mk IX (9) chassis complete with the 3.8 Litre six cylinder in-line XK engine on which he based this special. He wanted the automobile to have the frontal looks of the SS 100. To achieve this the engine had to be mounted  8 inches backward in the chassis and he had to find a shorter gearbox. The manual 4-speed box with overdrive from the Jaguar Mk I proved to be suitable for the job. Also the chassis had to be lowered for the right appeal, this problem was solved using XK 150 springs. The rolling chassis was completed using brake calipers of the Jaguar XJ 6 series 2, disc brakes and wire wheels of the Jaguar XK 150 and the lowered radiator and grille of a Jaguar Mk V (5). After finishing the rolling chassis he had the bodywork created by the firm of Classic Car Panels in Frome, England. Bodywork specialist Dick Dawes created all aluminium body panels by hand. The panels were fitted to a tubular frame. In the year 1992 the Jaguar 3.8 Litre Special was finished. The Garrett family named the car ' the Brute'. In the year 1995 the Special was sold to Dave Williams who incorporated some modifications to the car. He improved the dashboard with a brushed panel, he fitted contemporary seats and he had canvas side screens fabricated to fit the soft top.

Technical data

Six cylinder in-line engine (DOHC)
cylinder capacity: 3781 cc.
carburettors: 2x S.U. HD6 1¾ inch
capacity: 220 bhp. at 5500 rpm.
gearbox: 4-speed manual + overdrive
top speed: unknown
weight: 1300 kg.