[Video] The classic Jaguar masters | CKL Developments | Goodwood Masters | GRR
Over the past 25 years CKL Developments, named after its founder Chris Keith-Lucas, has built itself a reputation as the authority on the repair and restoration of classic Jaguars. Focusing generally on Jaguar-built and Jaguar-engined sportscars from the 1950s and ‘60s, CKL has grown from a couple of mates in a shed to sprawling kingdom comprising several warehouses where they store and work on more than 80 cars.
Among the plethora of beautiful classic Jags, we see C-types, D-types and E-types, along with one particularly special project which stems from a four-cylinder engine that Chris and his team found. It was intended back in the late 1940s to be the engine for a car known as the Jaguar XK100, a smaller version of the XK120, but for several reasons it never came to be. Chris and his team have put an awful lot of effort into researching exactly what this car would have looked like, and are working towards one day building an XK100 as it should have been 80 years ago.
Then there’s the E2A, an original racing E-type prototype built over the winter of 1959-’60 that raced at Le Mans among other things, and would eventually serve as the basis for one of the world’s most beautiful cars.
In the case of many of these cars, of course they need to be put to work, exactly as they would have in their earlier years, and the only way to do that is to take them motor racing. We’ve seen several CKL-prepared cars racing at Goodwood over the years.
CKL Developments is also busy training up the next generation of engineers and mechanics, offering hands-on experience for young people who show an interest in working with historic cars. It’s truly honourable work, something that we’re certainly in support of.