These reveal that a fair few of the Coombs cars were written off in period, that even more were owned by Coombs employees and – unsurprisingly – that most of the Mk2 conversions (but not all of them) were based on the 3.8-litre cars.
“The brochure was produced about two years after we started,” recalls Ken, “and we modified 30 cars for road use.
“Actually, there are more than 30 on my list, but what makes it complicated is that none of them had everything.
“It was all down to individual owners and what they wanted. But let’s say there were 30 cars with ‘substantial’ mods.”
The Coombs Jaguar Mk2’s big carburettors and high compression give more punch
Ken got hooked into the Mk2s straight away: “I worked on the very first one that came in, in around October or November 1959.
“I clearly remember the car – I did the pre-delivery on it. We didn’t get another until 1960.”
Paul Sweeney has owned his 1961 Coombs Mk2 for four years. It shares garage space with a replica of Mike Hawthorn’s Mk1 3.4.
“I had a Mk2 years ago,” he says. “I never really got on with E-types, although I have mates who have them. I liked that this one was low ownership and in Carmen Red: they only did two.”
This beautifully restored Jaguar Coombs E-type could be the sole survivor
Paul believes that the modifications were rarely done in one hit on a new car: “It was the second owner, from 1963, who had the Coombs tweaks done that summer; he had almost everything bar the long-range fuel tank and the boot-rack.”
Inside, there are some extra switches and a clock in the glovebox lid.
Keen to preserve the original front seats, Paul spent months looking for a stand-in pair and ended up with a set that had come out of the car that John Coombs was having restored for himself in the ’80s: “It’s got all the engine upgrades, and it goes really well – particularly between 60 and 100mph – but you have to remember it has 1960s brakes.
“It’s got the usual heat-soak problems, but I rarely miss the power steering and I still run the engine on points rather than electronic ignition.”
The Coombs Jaguar E-type’s engine modifications give the ‘six’ extra potency
It is the lesser-known details, such as the Coombs anti-roll bar, that Paul particularly likes: “They are the things that the replicas tend not to have.
“It’s got the bonnet louvres, but they may have been added later because there is no receipt for them, and hardly any cars had them in period anyway.”
Ken reckons Coombs did about three E-types – he personally worked on a dark-green fixed-head coupé 4.2 in 1965 – so the car pictured may well be the only genuine Coombs ‘E’ in existence.
The Coombs Jaguar E-type’s open carburettors and free-breathing exhaust allow the twin-cam engine to really sing
Jointly owned by Gareth Richardson and Tony Morris since 2019, 3071 PK recently emerged from a superb restoration by marque expert WinSpeed Motorsport and its history has been researched fastidiously.
Unused for years, it was in a poor state but very original.
“It was sold new by Coombs to a businessman called Harold Samuels in 1962,” says Gareth, “with all the usual engine modifications – a high-compression head, ‘open’ carburettors and so on – plus a throaty, ‘over-the-frame’ exhaust system and the triple-laced wire wheels.
“Samuels then chopped it in against a Ferrari 500 Superfast in 1965.”
The Coombs Jaguar E-type’s original numberplate wears a lovely patina that has been preserved
Second owner Peter Vose put upwards of 40,000 miles on the E-type, taking long-distance trips across Europe and cruising at 110mph with his children asleep on the luggage shelf.
It was also used as a shopping car, as Vose revealed in a letter to Motor Sport in 1967: the general tenor of the missive was that the car was excellent in most respects, all the better for the Coombs modifications, and thoroughly practical.
The fact that it had acquired a later, all-synchromesh gearbox from a 4.2-litre E-type, apparently as a special favour from the factory, doubtless added to its charms.
‘In a letter to Motor Sport, Vose revealed that the car was excellent, and all the better for the Coombs modifications’
Coombs’ attentions were not restricted to Mk2s and E-types, as Ken recalls: “I think three, maybe four, Coombs S-types were converted.
“The one that stood out was a dark blue metallic car I did for Tony Vandervell of Vanwall: when it came in for its first service, all of the wire wheels were breaking – it was then that Dunlop modified the wheels from a curly hub to a straight, conical hub, which was stronger.
“On the Mk2 they were able to cope with the extra power, but because of the additional weight of the S-type, they broke up.”
When John Coombs (pictured) brought his competition expertise to the road, it resulted in some of the most exclusive Jaguars of the 1960s
Ken believes that about 20 ‘real’ Coombs Mk2s survive, and he considers only two to be truly original. “Most of them have been got at,” he laments.
“For instance, Ken McAlpine was a friend of John’s from his Connaught days, and his Coombs Mk2 was BRG. I had that car in for a rebuild in the ’90s and it was dark blue.”
By the early ’80s, unable to endure the chaos of the British Leyland regime that came hand in hand with selling Jags, Coombs switched his allegiance to BMW.
He later sold up to a rival and retired to Monaco, presumably bemused by the amount of attention the hot saloons that bore his stamp were beginning to attract from collectors and fake-makers alike.
Images: Max Edleston
Thanks to: Peter Hugo, WinSpeed Motorsport
A Coombs congregation: friends reunited
Former Coombs team mechanics, from left-right: Mick Mortimer, Eddie Best, Gordon Lambly, Dave Turner, Ken Bell, Richard Grimmond, Mike Reach and ‘Kipper’ Haskell
Thanks to Peter Hugo at WinSpeed Motorsport, we were honoured to meet the surviving Coombs & Sons mechanics during our photoshoot.
Ken Bell started as an apprentice in 1958. Mike Reach worked on the Coombs E-type in period, having begun his career with Rob Walker, while Richard Grimmond and Dave Turner both started their careers at Coombs.
“‘Handsome’ Jack Chandler was the foreman,” recalls fellow Coombs alumnus Gordon Lambly. “The first thing he told me was: ‘If you see a ginger man coming, make sure you are doing something.’”
Ken Bell (above) joined Coombs & Sons in 1958; he kept notes about the cars that came through the works
The red-haired man in question was the boss, the famously irascible Coombs: “If you were, say, waiting at the stores and Coombs saw you, he would say, ‘What are you doing, boy? Come with me…’
“You would follow him right through the whole building, through the showrooms and everything, then he’d turn round again and say, ‘What are you doing, boy?’!”
“One day,” recalls Mick Mortimer, “I cut myself while stripping out a damaged car. Jack was first aid, so I went to see him at reception and asked for a plaster.
“‘What have you done there, then?’ he asked. I wasn’t watching what he was doing, but he just reached behind him then whacked me across the finger with a screwdriver and said, ‘You won’t do it again now will you?’”
Eddie Best (left) and Richard Grimmond recall stories about their time at Coombs & Sons
Gordon recalls a MkIX Jaguar coming into the Coombs bodyshop: “We had to respray it in two-tone black, with a gloss lower half and a matt upper half.
“We were under strict instructions not to put greasy hands on the matt finish. Later, another garage mistakenly polished it, so it had to all be done again!”
Another staff member reportedly lost his finger in a bizarre incident with a Rolls-Royce bonnet that hinged in the middle, while it was being lowered down from the stores.
“A man we called ‘Uncle Tom’ worked underneath on Rovers,” says Gordon. “After things had calmed down, he quietly said: ‘If anybody’s interested, Jim’s finger is in an envelope in the office.’”
‘Kipper’ Haskell (left) remembers driving the boss’ Jaguar D-type; Mick Mortimer (right) found out about Coombs & Sons’ dubious first-aid procedures the hard way
“All the guys at Coombs were real enthusiasts,” continues Mick. “There was something about the place. We always felt that it was a privilege to work there. We looked down on all the other garages.
“When a car came in for service, we were always told to take it out and make sure it would do its maximum speed. So it was straight into an E-type to do 150mph!
“A few people ditched them, mind. One of the foremen, Alf Moore, was killed when he was driving a Mercedes and hit a bridge at such a speed it came off the floor and the suspension flipped it.”
Dave Turner (left) and Eddie Best were reunited with their former colleagues
‘Kipper’ Haskell has fond memories of the harsh-but-fair taskmaster Coombs: “We were sent down to work on his boat in Chichester harbour and managed to find the bar… Another time I was given the job of giving his D-type a blast up the road to clear the plugs.
“He was not always the easiest of men to get on with – I remember a load of us walked out for four days once, after a big row – but he looked after us. He even loaned me the money to buy my first house.”
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Martin Buckley
Senior Contributor, Classic & Sports Car
