The more I read articles about these cars the more I think there is no reason to post a reply about them. Why? Well, there is one sitting in my garage and over the years I have had not only this XKSS but also a short and long nose Lynx D-type, so I believe that I am qualified to comment on so much crap that is posted on the subject. I am a Jaguar journalist, and I have assisted at more than a a few articles as well as writing them myself. For example, one magazine arrived at a circuit with a transporter and not only the first D-type (OVC 501) but also the holy grail XJ13 as well. The transporter was en route to the South of France. The article of them driving the D-type around the circuit was nothing more than 100% fake. They talked of the handling, the torque, the overall impressions. Great isn't it? Would it surprise you to understand that because no Jaguar mechanic was present they didn't have the right to the key to the car? That I drove the Toyota people carrier, the hatch open and the photographer inside, and the D-type behind attached to a length of rope? They airbrushed that out of course. Or that not too long ago a magazine "tested" my XKSS talking of 140mph and so on - except that once again I was driving the camera car at 45 mph and one shot even showed the XKSS going the wrong way round the circuit.

A Lynx XKSS (20,000 miles in my hands) can be a beast. I refuse to compromise and have bias ply tyres fitted. She is like a bucking bronco, following the road, now left, now right, and you have to 100% concentrate to keep her on the straight and narrow. Like Chris Rea wrote in his song called Daytona, "She ain't easy, so you take good care"

Let's quote statistics shall we? 16 original cars were built, and no matter what you read only one was built in 1956 and the other 15 in 1957. The first car went to Hofmanns NY. Lynx built their first XKSS (a conversion of a 1977 short nose D-type of theirs) in 1982, and overall Lynx made but nine of the same. Most were built from scratch as orders, others were converted from a short nose D-type. Mine is one of these a 1988 car. Lynx did what the client wanted. For example a high-revving hot engined 3.8 of a woofly 4.2 for going to the pub. mMine was the latter but now sports 325 bhp and 400 lb/ft of torque. I've owned it for 22 years by the way. Going back to statistics, only nine Lynx cars were made, but I see from time to time one of the three LHD XKSS cars built in Czechoslovakia appearing on auction sites in the USA and frankly you only have to look at the nose and wings to see that the shape is oh-so wrong. lynx exist once more, now in the UK, and I will be writing an article on the relaunch, and this time i am on the inside and expect to see new cars emerging true to the ethos of the originals. More anon.

I'm stopping here, because since I have followed Lynx, their history and their cars for 30 years there is so much I could write. I have no idea if my email address is posted here or if you will reply to my comments, but if you want more information please ask. I'm listening.