By Wallace Wyss
Photos by Bob Petricca and Francis de Pouqueville
Bob Petricca, of West Hills, CA, a suburb in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, has been in the exotic car business for 40 years and has heard every “barn story” there is.
You woulda thunk he’d be skeptical of each new story, as so many leads evaporate—Jag XK120s turn out to be Austin Healey Sprites, that sort of thing.
Every once in a while, the “urban legend” turns out to be real, so you have to check them out. In this case Petricca checked out a query on an “old Jaguar parked for forty-three years.”
The lead came from a lady whose deceased brother had been a scientist. She called Petricca up and asked if he was interested in it and, hoping against hope that this would not turn out to be just another urban legend, he drove over to look at it. Her story was true. Better yet – the car was stored a mere eight miles from his house.
Petricca knows 120s. He has bought and sold a dozen of them. But what makes this car remarkable is that it is a car buff’s dream: a two-owner totally rust free California-domiciled car that was stored right.
The lady told him the story. Her brother, a research scientist, had bought the car in 1961. He drove it until one day in 1966 when he experienced a small engine fire in the carburetors. He parked it in his sister’s garage in nearby Sherman Oaks, figuring he’d fix it soon. But he was called upon to work in Washington D.C. and never returned to California.
The Jaguar is a 1951 XK-120 roadster from the third year of production with serial number 670664.
Petricca was particularly happy that the car came complete with a tool kit, side curtains, a convertible top which he believes may be the original, a spare tyre and wheel, and the jacking kit.
It also came with the steel side skirts. Ironically if you ordered the wire wheels, it did not come with the skirts, which couldn’t clear the knock offs. The paint and body have a bit of wear and will no doubt be redone when the car is restored.
“I am half tempted,” says Petricca, “to mechanically restore it, to make it safe to drive, and then drive it around for awhile looking like it did when I found it. That way I can show that those barn stories are sometimes true.”
Wallace Alfred Wyss is a writer who now is becoming discovered as a painter. To see his paintings of classic cars, go to www.velocetoday.com/products-page/art-and-models.
Wallace…Very cool story and photos. Thanks for sharing it. Makes one wonder how many other Barn Finds are still out there.
A great article and I remember several books that Mr.Wyss had written and they are excellent and my collection. I wish Mr. Wyss is going to write some more books on Exotic Cars like he has on the High Performance Fords, and on the Lamborghini Muira. Please let me know what car books Mr. Wyss has on the market at this very moment?
I love to hear about these stories. I would not restore this car except mechanically the patina is killer and you just don’t see them like that. OG paint rocks!!
Hi Frank:Thanks for the vote of confidence. The books I have out now are
SHELBY The Man The Cars The Legend $20
COBRA & SHELBY MUSTANG Photo Archive $29
PANTERA with David and Linda Adler Price?
all available from Iconografix, Hudson WI
The other is one I published myself as a labor of love:
Ford GT40 and the New Ford GT by Al Axelrod, Brian Winer
and Wallace Wyss, $100, write Photojournalistpro@hotmail.com