Golden years

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There have always been people who think cars are better off with gold rather than chrome. Think Liberace. But cars with gold-plated brightwork are not just for slightly disturbing privateer attention seekers. The motoring manufacturers themselves built some of them for show purposes too. Daimler did, like Austin-Healey and then there were the golden Deloreans made to promote American Express’ Gold Card. Oh, and there was a Jaguar MK2 as well.

Originally built for the 1960 New York Motor show, it certainly was a show stopper, with every bit of exposed metal, inside and out, gold plated- up to the exhaust pipe. At the show the car was accompanied by an armed guard together with Miss Dorothy McDonough, who was dressed to match the car "in a specially designed gown of 24-karat gold thread, 24-karat gold hose, gold shoes, gold and precious gem jewelry including a tiara given to Empress Josephine in 1804 by Napoleon." The tiara, which was on loan from Van Kleef and Arpels, contained over 1,000 diamonds.

It may not have been the kind of car to loose sight of, but after the show the ‘Golden Jaguar’ was sent back to the factory at Browns’ Lane, stripped of its gold, retrimmed and sold as a standard road car. And so it doesn’t exist anymore. Or does it? For one MK2 lover, it became the quest to exactly recreate it. He did just that, and the new Golden Jaguar was ready in 1999, when it made it to several shows and concourses too. But what do you do with a car like this? Yep, it’s for sale now, and seller Bonhams, auctioning it in Greenwich this weekend on behalf of the owner together with some more MK2s from his collection, quotes: “Barely driven anywhere but from the transporter to the show field and back again, only about 100 miles have been accumulated since the completion of the restoration.” See the car for sale here.

(Words Jeroen Booij, picture courtesy Bonhams Auctions)

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