A collector car auction is a place where people can buy and sell special cars that are worth a lot of money. It's like an event where bidders compete to own these unique cars.
Le Mans is a famous car race that lasts for 24 hours. Cars race around a track, and the goal is to drive the farthest distance in that time. It's a big deal in the racing world.
An air box is a part of the car that helps bring air into the engine. It usually has a filter to keep dirt out, and in fast cars, it's designed to help the engine get more air for better power.
Valve covers are parts on top of the engine that keep oil inside and protect the engine's moving parts. They help the engine run smoothly by preventing leaks.
A show car is a car made to look really good for display at events. It's not usually meant for racing but is often very shiny and has special features to impress people.
The Jaguar D-Type is a classic race car from the 1950s that was famous for winning big races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It's known for its cool shape and advanced features for its time, but some people have had trouble with it in races, which is why it gets talked about a lot.
The Torrey Pines race is a car racing event that takes place in California. It's known for being a beautiful location and features many classic cars competing against each other.
A supercharger is a part that helps the engine get more air, which means it can burn more fuel and produce more power. It's like giving the engine a boost.
Car
Coyote 5.0L
The Coyote 5.0L is a powerful V8 engine made by Ford. It's used in cars like the Mustang and is known for being strong and fast.
A transaxle combines the parts that help a car move forward, including the gears and the axles, into one piece. This helps with how the car handles and balances.
The exhaust is the part of the car that lets out the gases produced by the engine. A custom exhaust can make the car sound different and perform better.
Body panels are the outer parts of a car, like the doors and hood. They can be made from different materials, and here they are made from a strong and light material called carbon fiber.
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G Stanley at RM Sotheby's calm all right for this episode
we have Jeremy
McChesney and
We met a couple years ago at RM Sotheby's and you had mentioned you were working on an incredible Jaguar and
I was surprised to see it here at public beach on the lawn and at one of the events earlier in the week
You are like literally holding court in your race suit. You are so energetic about this car
I just wanted to learn a little bit more about it. Sure. So this is XKD 5 to 2
This was a D type that was produced by the factory in red one of only two that were done in red
And it was the first D type to come to the west coast of the United States in
December of 1955 it was ordered by Charles Hornberg who was the distributor for Jaguar at the time
And he ordered a red D type because he was going to take it to the LA auto show, which was also happening at the same time
So the car was brought in on the Queen Mary to New York and then flown from New York
All the way to Burbank Airport just in time for the opening of the Los Angeles International Auto Show
During the auto show the car was taken to Palm Springs, California where
Ignacio Lozano sometimes known as Nacho was to race the car
Unfortunately Nacho was having a little bit of a difficulty with handling in the car
So they grabbed another young driver named Carol Shelby
Carol Shelby drove the car on December 4th, 1955 in this livery that you see here
The car is unique from normal production D types in a couple of different ways and
We'll open the bonnet and kind of show you that because it was a show car. It had a little bit more panache to it
The bonnet folds forward
And you can see that the car was
Brought up to a very very high standard things were polished that would have been left raw aluminum on normal D types
Such as the air box and the valve covers. Why do that for a race car?
The reason was because it was an auto show car
And because it was an auto show car Sir William Lyons the owner of Jaguar wanted the concentration to be on the engine
Not on the bits and pieces. This was his showcase
And so this car kind of walked two lives one as a show car and one as a race car
It's spent a lot of time in Charles Hornberg's
Dealership on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California
The car sat on a turntable and sold a lot of xk 140s and mark 7s at the time
Later in its life. It was in a parts department on Santa Monica Boulevard when it was in the parts department
There was a fire in the building part of the car was burned at that point in time and
The car was removed and sold off, but that parts department became what is now the troubadour
So it's got a little bit of rock and roll history to it as well
How did Shelby fair when he drove this he had a real difficult time with the car the
Rear torsion bar was what we called dead. It didn't have the spring to it that it needed
Nacho was having the same problem with the car and so he DNF the car in the first race and that was
Really harpooned in the press so a lot of people said the D-type does well in Europe. It doesn't do well here
Let's wait and see what happens at the Torrey Pines race
Which was coming up in February and that was the first that was the last six hours of Torrey Pines to be held here
In California that race went very well
Unfortunately 5-2-2 which was being raced by Sherwood Johnson at the time was crashed during the race about 45 minutes in
He had to retire the car, but another D type
Xkd 5 2 7 went on to win the race with the pilot from Xkd 5 2 2 as a co-pilot in that car
The following day on Sunday for the one-hour race. This car took second place
So did well it did well, but its life was really to sell cars for Charles Hornberg
They're on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California now talk about some of the other little differences here with the
Judging some of the fasteners and so we see that these chainie hose clamps are painted black
That black is to match the black of the hose on
Silver hose those chainie clothes clamps are going to be silver
This final piece that separates the wires would normally left a kind of a brownish color
Whereas here it was painted silver
Trying to find a couple other things for you here
Just a general a look of the engine compartment was brought up as well
Just because it was a show car and speak to folks that don't know about D types. What's going on right here?
Yeah, so so D types were built as a single cockpit. You had a passenger
There's a passenger seat underneath the tonneau cover there
And so they were built
With a couple things in mind the first one win Le Mans
And so in order to do that Jaguar had to reduce the overall frontal area of the car
And they did that by taking this engine the XK engine and they tip that eight degrees to the side
So if you look the engine doesn't line up as a matter of fact nothing on this car lines up
It is incredibly asymmetrical
So the engine is cantered over at eight degrees carburetor sit at this angle and that was to reduce frontal area
Increase the overall speed on the moulson straight. That's why we have this beautiful wrap around windshield here as well
Awesome and speak about the side exhaust here a little bit. Yeah, so because it's a straight six
It's a cross-flow head Weber carburetors DC-0345s. Your exhaust goes out the side and then runs right out
Did anything come with the car from the past history of a racing or oh, yeah
I'll Shelby Chilli powder anything
Lots of lots of history to the car, but nothing specific nothing like, you know
Carol Shelby left his goggles or something like that in it. No, okay
Well, thanks for sharing the thank you very much. Thanks for participating and and and coming and seeing the car
I run a an Instagram channel on the car called XKD five to two the the little red D type
So all right, and hopefully we'll see on the stage. Absolutely. Thank you. Cheers. Your car deserves the best
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All right, Mike, we are at the quail and you're on the podcast
Talking about this incredible Aston Martin that you guys are working on and it is debuted and it is right here
And man, you guys talk about knocking out of the park
I cannot believe what a sexy incredible car. This is so tell us a little bit about it and some of the cool features of it
Well, it's really cool to be here. I can't lie
We're just super lucky to have an owner like Eric Johnson to let us build a car like this to a level that we've never built the car before
as far as
really
Scratch, yeah
Well, and we talked about this just prior. I mean it's just such a athletic
Sophisticated sexy muscular car to begin with and you like kind of enhanced all that
So if you would just walk us around the car, tell us some of the cool points. I mean, I know it's all
Custom like every part you guys have to make every piece of this car
Is either taken from a new OE or we made the body panels. We made the whole car the whole car. Okay
Well, since they just pop the bonnet the hood it's the bonnet, right? We got to take a look. Tell us tell us what we're looking at here
It's a coyote supercharged
Herob supercharger a Wagner motorsports five-liter coyote gen 2
We had them remake the whole supercharger because we wanted it to come out the front for the design so that the hood
Seals onto the air box. Okay, so we gave
Herob this is where that supercharger s and so they had to make a whole new all new throttle body everything
The whole cars carbon a side b side
When all their eel tubs it seals on to
The upper
Seals
Now close out panels
Carbon freaking literally everywhere
Yeah
Yeah
Talk about talk about the wheels. Those are some of the best-looking wheels. I've ever seen look behind you
This is the original wheel. There's the original. That's a bar. We made for the quail out of the original car
So you made a bar out of an Aston Martin. Yeah, well, this was a wrecked one. It was a wrecked. All right, people
We just don't send me hate mail. They'll send them hate me. Yeah, but look how sexy that wheel is man. You guys should just
You know that was the influence from that wheel
We had these and I had never seen that on a wheel before
And we and I really like the spider look of the original wheel. So what is that a 20-inch?
19 in the front 20 in the back. So that's what I love about it. You're not extreme, you know, you're not put in
If I could get
Brakes and get a tire like I've always said why don't they invent a tire?
Because you can make the wheel. Yeah tire with like a 15 inch sidewall so that a 15 inch outer
Yeah, and an 18 so they can make a tire that had two different bead sizes
Right, you could really create a have big brakes with great an old-school feel with the car
I don't know why the manufacturers don't do it. Well, walk us around. I want to get a shot of this closed up after we're done here
But tell us Gen-Tex is a big partner of ours. They do all like OEMears
Probably everybody we're seeing now as Gen-Tex mirrors on
Okay
Yeah, got the logo in there very nice
But this interior just gorgeous
I love that joined the flags
See that's the thing is everything you do is top-notch quality
Yeah, everything you see in this car is definitely functional from the air intakes to the brakes. Oh functional
And then what's the transmission there man? That's a sexy
Oh wow you can see through it look at that
So what is the transmission in this car it's a Tremac with a torque tube and a transaxle in it okay car scale
It's heavy. It's 4200 six speed six speed. Okay, and then what'd you say 20s back here 20s 13 inch wow by 13
Oh, look, they just opened the boot
So now tell me about the glass
You had to make all the glass
Even the windshield no the windshield we cut down okay
It's the same profile we tried to cut that notch out of original glass. Yeah
Can't do it just breaks. What does it cost to get a piece of glass made like that?
All in probably
10 to 15 grand. Yeah, right now. I love this so
The original cars had two fillers. So we got two fillers. Yes both to gas. Yes. That's cool
They go to the same tank the original cars had that so we wanted to retain that and you got an integrated backup camera up top
That's not it's the rear-view mirror rear-view mirror. So gentex built this a really live 180 degree
Gentex made us the actual lenses inside holy cow look at that rear end
Man tell me about the exhaust down there. We machined all that just you machined all that
Yeah, so we machined this out of a stainless and then we put carbon in between the other end of the stainless
Wow
and
Just a stainless alone for because there's a lot more than you see
Yeah, that chunk of stainless was a thousand bucks. Wow just a bell. I love the tag shaking. Yeah, not stirred baby. Yeah, that's right
So how loud is it? Um, it's a it sounds like a coyote, but we did put twin crossover shot
Wow
It sounds really good. Yeah, I haven't buzzed it to eight grand yet, but it's capable. Yeah built
All right, so the steering wheel we tried to represent the original style wheel
The stocks if you know
If you know these cars they had that pot on them and we we machined our own and made our own
But it looks like the factory
Yeah, just stunning
Um, so you machined that? Yeah
Printed all the handles. Oh, look at the stock pieces of these are all printed printed stainless printed. Wow
the
Almost gun-looking e-brake. Yeah
Printed the necklace what I would call on the seats
Lazer the logos
And you got your logo with the american flag in the middle and gentex made us these rear view mirrors
It's the first actual car to have them where they're dimmable
Oh, wow, you look through the the advisors. Oh the visors. Yeah, so if you're driving it in the sun
Just come over hill a sun blind immediately goes black. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and you can do it manually or you can
Right that's amazing. I love that steering wheel
All right, do you mind closing the door? No, let's get a full shot here
Yeah, what a good-looking car
Wow
So how long did it take for the complete build here?
Uh from start to finish cad and everything two and a half years
Once we got the parts it was less than a year
Okay, once we got the
The body panels. Yeah
So
It is every single body panel is carbon. Yeah
Okay
Yeah, it's just such a sexy beautiful car
So now the goal is is this is a one-off commission
But you are open to doing one more
We would like to do one more to actually write the owner a check back because he believed in us and we would like to
Sell one and recoup some of his money, but that's the honest
So what would happen if you could sell ten of these? We wouldn't build it
That's not what we do. Yeah. Yeah, you know us. Yeah
We we don't build two of anything right right. This would be something. Yeah, so we've never went to this extreme before
Yeah, so if you want one of these
Obviously contact the ring brothers. This is incredible
Thanks so much, man. Yeah, appreciate it
About this episode
A recap of the recent Audrey and Concorde Elegance event highlights the unique story of a rare Jaguar D-Type, XKD 522, which was the first of its kind on the West Coast. Jeremy McChesney shares its fascinating history, including its dual life as a show and race car, and its connection to racing legends like Carroll Shelby. The episode also features insights into a stunning custom Aston Martin built by Ringbrothers, showcasing innovative design and engineering, including a supercharged Coyote engine and all-carbon body panels.
This week, I'm back on the Monterey Peninsula for two of the most spectacular automotive events on earth—Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. I review one of the most talked-about cars on social media: the Jaguar XKD, known as the "Little Red D-Type" on Instagram—a car whose restoration and racing pedigree stopped enthusiasts in their tracks. Then we shift gears to the Ringbrothers' jaw-dropping Aston Martin build revealed at The Quail, a fusion of British elegance and American engineering audacity. From the soft morning light on the Pebble lawn to the roar of bespoke V12s at The Quail, this episode captures the artistry, innovation, and passion that define Monterey Car Week. You can learn more at:
This episode is sponsored by our friends at California Car Cover — my go-to source for custom-fit car covers and detailing gear. They've protected both my '66 GTO and Porsche Boxster S, and I trust them to keep your collector car safe, too.
A special thank you to our new sponsor, Discover Once, curators of one-of-a-kind automotive adventures you'll never experience twice. Learn more at discoveronce.com/muscle.
And as always, huge thanks to RM Sotheby's for their continual support and for making so many of these automotive dreams possible.
Listen to the "Octane FM: Shift, Rev, Repeat" album on Spotify!
Stay connected with The Collector Car Podcast—find us on our Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or reach out to Greg directly via email.
Join RM Sotheby's Car Specialist Greg Stanley as he brings over 25 years of experience and keen market analysis to the world of collector cars. Each week, Greg dives into market trends, interviews industry experts, and shares insights—with a little fun along the way. New episodes drop every Thursday and are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn more at www.TheCollectorCarPodcast.com or email Greg at [email protected]. Interested in consigning a car at an RM Sotheby's auction? Contact Greg directly at [email protected].
