Jaguar E-type 60th Anniversary Bag E60 Heritage Holdall
E60 Heritage Holdall – The inspiration behind the creation by Simon Jordan
I have a genuine love & engineering passion for cars, British brands in particular. TVR was my first car at the age of 17; a few years later I set up a company restoring and servicing Lotus, MGB and TVR sports cars, winning at Concours level. In 1994 I moved to London and was very excited to be offered a job selling Jaguar for Henlys Limited in North London.
Celebrating one of the most beautiful cars in the world
Before my interview I carried out research as I’m fascinated by the history of car dealership groups and who’s behind them – I made sure that I mentioned in my interview one of the biggest reasons for wanting this job was that I thought it would be cool in the future to say I was honoured to have worked for the very first Jaguar Distributor H.G. Henly & Company London, to be appointed by Sir William Lyons – 21st January 1928, later to become Henlys Limited & then Henlys PLC
Jaguar Launch the XK120 in 1948 – A Motorsport Success
Selling Jaguar cars for Henlys in London was special; it was exciting being surrounded by luxury and sports cars daily. They have an incredible heritage of roads’ cars but I was more interested in the racing sports car history and what they’ve achieved. 1948 saw the launch of the XK120, creating an instant buzz within the car industry globally. Jaguar now had a very special car, with a new powerful 6 – cylinder engine, flowing lines and sculptured beautiful aluminium bodywork.
XK120 was in huge demand from its launch; it captured the hearts of the Americans and orders came flooding in so now Jaguar had to ramp up production.
In 1949 Jaguar started to compete in motorsport with XK120 and scored results immediately. With the robust, reliable, powerful configured engine, this was the perfect start for their competition success, leading onto the more aerodynamic XK120C (C for Competition) then becoming the C-Type, giving Jaguar their first Le Mans victory in 1951.
In June 1952, Stirling Moss won the Reims race because of the engineering advantage of Dunlop Disc brakes. This model then evolved into the XK140 and finally XK150, with the C-type firmly involved in global motorsport. With this great success, the road was clear for the next evolution – the D-type – with a hat trick of Le Mans’ wins in 1955, 1956 & 1957. All the competition success, aerospace design and low drag coefficient allowed the Jaguar race cars to run at higher speeds, completely balanced, achieving faster lap times than more powerful cars, such as Ferrari & Aston Martin at double the price: win-win.
Jaguar E-type in 1961 – Geneva Motor Show
At the 1961, Geneva Motor Show Jaguar unveiled ‘One of the most beautiful cars in the world’ as Enzo Ferrari put it. It really goes without saying, how could anyone argue that its shape, style, sculptured sleek bodywork, flowing aerodynamic, aeroplane-inspired stance – looks fast standing still – made it the elegant racer for the road, with a recognisable singing exhaust note.
Pure ‘British Automotive Engineering Art’ iconic design that changed the world !!
2011 Jaguar Classic Celebrating 50 years of the Jaguar E-type
I was honoured to receive a call from Tony O’Keeffe at Jaguar Classic commissioning me to design and manufacture x 100 British Racing Green Holdall’s, to be given as gifts to the 50 special clients taking part in the anniversary rally on February 28th 2011. This ran from Jaguar’s Browns Lane site where the car was created and developed, to the Geneva Motor Show, as part of the E-Type’s 50th anniversary celebrations. It was a re-enactment of the 1961 night-time dash will took place as a tribute to the retired engineer Norman Dewis.
2021 – 10 years later Jaguar E-type 60th Anniversary
As I knew 60 years of E-type would be a great celebration, and my passion for our British icon was still very strong, I thought I would call Graham Searle, Director of the Jaguar Enthusiasts‘ Club, who is local to me. I asked Graham, would the Club like to collaborate with my idea of creating a 60th Commemorative Heritage Holdall with a striking bespoke lining, a recognisable and in-demand feature of every Jordan Bespoke holdall. Graham said this was a wonderful idea, so arranged a meeting with his team at the JEC. Andy Webber took the lead on this project. I mentioned to Andy that we really needed some special photos of various E-types over the years and could we speak to some of his members and perhaps we use photos of their cars? I then thought it would be much better to use official Jaguar-licensed photos, making the lining unique, adding to the story, and most importantly creating a memorable, talked-about showpiece. I do hope you like our final montage-bespoke lining – if only Norman Dewis was with us today so I could gift him one of our E60 Heritage Holdalls.
Thank you to the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club and Jaguar Heritage Trust for making this 2021 E60 Heritage Holdall possible; it’s been a real pleasure.
NOTE: The E60 Heritage Holdall will be on display on Sunday 4th July in the Traders’ Hanger at the Summer Jaguar Festival at Bicester Heritage, celebrating 60 years of the iconic Jaguar E-type. Come and say hello!
We are proud that The Jaguar Enthusiast Club has appointed us as the Official Leather Holdall supplier to the largest Jaguar Club in the world – truly passionate about Jaguar cars – an incredibly dedicated motoring club, sharing and supporting our British Heritage Automotive brand’s history – Jaguar Cars since 1935.
Celebrating the iconic history of the Jaguar E-type, we offer the members this beautiful E60 Heritage Holdall, designed and manufactured in collaboration with JEC and working closely with the kind help of the Jaguar Heritage Trust, offering us the licence to use these amazing archive photographs to produce the printed montage for this unique E60 lining. Striking bespoke linings are a recognisable feature of every Jordan Bespoke bag.
The featured leather holdall is finished in Racing Red, crafted in the same highest quality ‘Bridge of Weir’ Scottish leather that Jaguar chooses as its luxury automotive hide. We have a choice of 6 leathers’ colours for you to choose from the option list: Racing Red, Black, Tan, British Racing Green, Dark Blue & Brown, plus the offer of your initials hot-stamped into the leather panel, along with the beautiful E60th Anniversary logo. This is the perfect, unique & memorable holdall to remind you of 60 years of the E-type Jaguar 2021.
Bespoke Personalised Leather and Lining Custom Options
Bespoke Options: We can change the colour of the White Roundel & Number 60 or remove it completely.
Bespoke Lining: Email us your cherished memorable photos and we will create your own personalised lining – totally unique, capturing & remembering those greats times. Contact me today to begin.
1960’s Seat Belt Webbing – Original Handles and Shoulder Straps
Combining original 60’s seat belt webbing for handles and shoulder straps.
Our luggage is designed to carry enough items for your perfect weekend away, combining original 60’s seat belt webbing for handles and shoulder straps
Each item is hand made to order in Italy to perfection with passion – attention to detail is always reflected.
BRITISH DESIGN – HAND MADE IN ITALY to be used as Grand Touring Luggage, Kit Bag or Weekend Holdall.
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