Jaguar XJS Club
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Jaguar Lynx Eventer 1982. This is the no 1 eventer built with a very special history.
Based near Hastings, a small team headed by Chris Keith-Lucas and Guy Black created one of the most beautiful cars ever conceived - LYNX Eventer*. The name had been taken from the British Riley Lynx. Based on the XJS sports coupé, it was easily the most quintessentially British vehicle in existence at the time - or ever. A slinky, V-12 Shooting Brake, it was most definitely not an ‘estate’. With three doors and all the wood and leather you could muster, the Eventer had added visibility, rear-seat room and buckets of boot space. Each one was exclusive, each conversion took 14 weeks to produce and the attention to detail was second to none.
Eventer 001 was the first prototype, registered in 1982 as XJV 12 and initially driven by Guy Black. Chris Keith-Lucas says: “I feel particularly connected with it because I built that body myself, from first principles; we hadn’t got as far as making any jigs at that stage. It is, therefore, probably slightly dimensionally different from all subsequent cars for that reason. Something we struggled with on that car was the shape of the roof. My original idea was that fitting a sunroof would be a clever way of managing the junction between the original front section and the new, extended, estate-car, back section. In fact, it introduced more problems than it overcame, and we ended up with an outline like a thruppenny bit. An extra thickness of filler gave it the necessary double-curvature. We were learning.” Rupert Hine first encountered Eventer 001 at the Earl’s Court Motor Show. Chris remembers delivering the car to Rupert’s mews home in Central London, and it was only then he began to really discover what Rupert did for a living. He was the renowned, British musician, songwriter and record producer - www.ruperthine.com. In Rupert’s own words:
“I went to visit the manufacturers in Hastings. There were several of the cars in the small, but impressive workshop/showroom in various stages of build. They took a standard, factory-made XJS and then replaced the entire rear end of the car, from the back of the main seats through to the rear bumper. It was quite an extraordinary sight! I had never been much of a fan of the XJS and seeing this stunning-looking, fastback car - like a sleeker, more aerodynamic take on the Reliant Scimitar - it was hard to believe it was born out of the least beautiful Jaguar sports car. It was final proof, to me, that it was the clumsy buttresses on the rear end of the standard car that let the design down so badly. So here was not only a brilliant design solution, but also a conversion that created a shooting brake of extraordinary capacity. I am a musician, and I was soon to find out that I could carry more keyboards in this vehicle than I could in my Range Rover! A total of 8 electronic synthesisers!
I can’t remember the ‘showroom price’ at that time, but I remember thinking I needed to go away and think about it. A few days later, a call from Chris Keith-Lucas let me know that their demo car would be available shortly and, given it had some 20,000 miles on the clock, it could be had for a reduced price. It was the car in all the brochures and PR material. I bought it immediately. Several years later I moved to France and the car did many a long-legged journey between Paris and the South and is a wonderful classic ‘tourer’.”
As Rupert’s everyday car, Eventer 001 not only carried precious equipment but also prestigious passengers and admirers; Sir Bob Geldof, Stevie Nicks, Howard Jones, Peter Gabriel, Chris de Burgh, Cy Curnin and Tina Turner (right) are just some who enjoyed her. In fact, Ms. Turner had wanted one of her own; however, the 14 week lead time was too long.
After moving to France, Rupert bought a C-type replica and had Eventer 001 resprayed similarly, in Ecurie Ecosse Blue. When he left France in 1999/2000 to live in the USA, Eventer 001 was provisionally stored due to a, supposedly, seized gear box. He had turned on the engine one day only to find he couldn’t put her in gear - Eventer 001 has automatic transmission. The short story is Eventer 001 languished in a storage container north of Paris for over ten years before being transported back to the UK in 2011, and then stored for another few years on a farm near where Rupert was then living, in Cheshire. In 2015 Rupert’s wife, Fay, commissioned the restoration of Eventer 001, to be completed in time for Rupert’s 70th Birthday. Rupert was reunited with Eventer 001 - aka Briar Rose, so called because she had been 'asleep' for so long - on his 70th birthday in Sept 2017. She had been resprayed Lunar Grey, a new Jaguar colour near to her original shade. At the time, he enthused: "I was so excited! I have been feeling the hairs on the back of my neck getting very excited. I almost fell over with delight - not shock!!! Although I had the pretty Bristol 401, wacky Riley RMA, beautiful Aston DB5 convertible and C-type Replica, the only truly original, as in unique car, and the one I drove as an everyday car so enjoyably for almost 20 years, was always the idiosyncratic marvel that I love so.”
Despite assurances that Briar Rose would be subjected to a high quality, professional restoration the reality was catastrophically different. In the years since her return tens of thousands of pounds have been spent rectifying dangerous faults and poor workmanship. There is still much to be done, particularly in relation to correcting very poor panel fit. In the meantime, Fay Hine acknowledges the assistance of Motor Legends (Kent), Pride & Joy Storage Solutions Glos), Specialist Vehicle Brokers (Wilts), Chris Keith-Lucas, Oscars Workshops (Wilts), Julian Ferraro, She also extends thanks to the XJS, Jaguar Drivers, and Jaguar Enthusiasts Clubs and her partner Andrew Marshall for helping her understand and appreciate what it means to own, drive and, indeed, maintain the prototype Lynx Eventer 001 aka Briar Rose. She says: “I was so glad that Rupert was able to enjoy this much-loved Eventer before he passed away and delighted, she now proves so popular when out and about. I’m trying to ensure she is able to attend more shows and events in the future.”
Of the 67 Eventers built we believe only 55 are still in existence.