VIN: the Stanley McRobert Jaguar XKSS chassis 716

Jaguar - Jaguar XKSS - Jaguar VINs - XKSS VINs - Stanley McRobert - Don Stewart - Ray Carter - Nat Adams

History of XKSS chassis 716

Chassis 716 began life as D-type chassis XKD 575.

XKD 575 was counted among Jaguar’s unsold stock of D-types in November 1956.

In early 1957, Jaguar converted XKD 575 into XKSS 716. The reconfigured car was painted British Racing Green and upholstered with Tan leather.

On May 28th 1957, the new XKSS was dispatched to Jaguar of Eastern Canada, based in Montreal.

It was sold to Stanley McRobert (also of Montreal) on June 12th.

McRobert was a professional engineer. For many years he worked as the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Farr Inc. He was also an avid sportsman who liked to ski, sail, golf and play tennis.

However, 25 year old McRobert found himself hankering for a higher octane pursuit. With this in mind, he part-exchanged his Jaguar XK120 Drophead for the brand new XKSS.

Over the next twelve months, McRobert contested around a dozen races and hillclimbs in chassis 716. He competed at the St. Eugene and Harewood Acres airfield tracks in Ontario and at the Mount Gabriel Hillclimb in Montreal.

During this time, McRobert missed out on victory only once; he was defeated at the Harewood Acres 1 Hour race in August 1957 when Tom Gilmour’s Lotus Mark IX took the win.

In late June / early July of 1958, Stan McRobert sold chassis 713 as he was soon to take delivery of another XKSS (albeit one that had been converted to D-type trim - chassis 760).

The next owner of chassis 716 was Don Stewart who raced the car five times despite owning it for just a couple of months.

Like the first two custodians, the third owner of chassis 713 continued to compete with it domestically.

Enthusiastic Ontario-based racer, Ray Carter, used the XKSS on track until early 1960. He appeared exclusively at Harewood Acres, throughout which time chassis 713 was campaigned under the banner of Carter’s British Cars.

In May 1959, the Canadian Racing Drivers Association organised its first professional race: a 500 kilometre enduro held at Harewood Acres. In front of an estimated 10,000 spectators, Carter and his co-driver, Craig Hill, drove the XKSS to an overall win, defeating rival John Cook in his Maserati 300S.

Later in 1960, Ray Carter must have been in some financial trouble as fellow Ontario resident, Nat Adams, purchased the XKSS from a finance company.

Adams repainted the car red and entered it in several races as a replacement for his MGA.

Adams’ handful of outings included the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished twelfth overall.

In January 1962, Nat Adams sold the XKSS to a dentist in Ohio and chassis 716 left Canada for the USA.

By 1968, the Jaguar had been purchased by noted collector, Peter Kalikow. In an interview, Kalikow recalled the XKSS, which he sold in the early 1970s: "I regretted it and then tried to find the car and buy it back with no success. Since then I have never sold a car."

Around 1980, the XKSS was sold to John Harper, a UK-based Jaguar enthusiast and racer, who had Lynx convert the car to D-type specification. All the rare original XKSS components were retained.

In this form, chassis 713 was raced in vintage events throughout 1981 and 1982.

XKSS 716 was sold to John Pearson in 1983. It then sold again in 1993, this time via Brian Redman to Don Marsh, a collector based in Columbus, Ohio. It has since gone through the hands of a couple more US owners and been expertly reconfigured to its XKSS configuration.

Notable History

British Racing Green

Sold to Stanley McRobert, Montreal

29/06/1957 IND St. Eugene (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
17/08/1967 IND Harewood Acres Sports Car Race (S. McRobert) 1st oa, 1st C class (#101)
17/08/1957 IND Harewood Acres 1 Hour (S. McRobert) 2nd oa, 1st C class (#101)
02/09/1957 IND St. Eugene Race 1 (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
02/09/1957 IND St. Eugene Race 5 (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
02/09/1957 IND St. Eugene Race 7 (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
28/09/1957 IND Harewood Acres 1 Hour (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
28/09/1957 IND Harewood Acres Formula Libre (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
05/10/1957 IND Mount Gabriel Hillclimb (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#1)

29/06/1958 IND St. Eugene (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)
29/06/1958 IND St. Eugene Formula Libre (S. McRobert) 1st oa (#??)

Sold to Don Stewart

05/07/1958 IND Green Acres (D. Stewart) 4th oa (#27)
19/07/1958 IND Harewood Acres Modified Race (D. Stewart) ran (#??)
19/07/1958 IND Harewood Acres 1 Hour (D. Stewart) 3rd oa (#??)
16/08/1958 IND Harewood Acres Production (D. Stewart) 1st oa (#??)
16/08/1958 IND Harewood Acres Le Mans (D. Stewart) 4th oa (??)

Sold to Ray Carter (Carter’s British Cars), Ontario

13/09/1958 IND Harewood Acres Sports (R. Carter) 1st oa (#14)
13/09/1958 IND Harewood Acres 1 Hour (R. Carter) ran (#14)

09/05/1959 IND Harewood Acres 500km (R. Carter / C. Hill) 1st oa, 1st MO class (#19)
25/07/1959 IND Harewood Acres 6 Hours (R. Carter / C. Hill) 4th oa, 2nd CM class (#??)
15/08/1959 IND Harewood Acres Le Mans (R. Carter) 1st oa (#119)
15/08/1959 IND Harewood Acres Formula Libre (R. Carter) 1st oa (#119)
19/09/1959 IND Harewood Acres Sports (R. Carter) DNF (#14)

28/05/1960 IND Harewood Acres (R. Carter) 8th oa (#19)

1960 sold to Nat Adams, Ontario

Red livery

10/06/1961 IND Mosport (N. Adams) 3rd oa (#??)
24/06/1961 CSC Mosport Player's 200 (N. Adams) ran (#169)
05/08/1961 CSC Mosport Grand National (N. Adams) 4th oa (#??)
26/08/1961 IND Green Acres Formula Libre (N. Adams) 2nd oa (#169)
26/08/1961 IND Green Acres Formula Libre (N. Adams) 4th oa (#169)
30/09/1961 CSC Canadian Grand Prix, Mosport (N. Adams) 12th oa, 6th S2.0+ class (#169)

Later converted to D-type trim and then returned to XK SS trim with its original components

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed