Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations buys world’s biggest British car collection

Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Operation has bought James Hull’s collection of British cars – 543, thought to be the world’s biggest – for an undisclosed amount.

News watchers and petrolheads may be aware that the world’s biggest collection of British cars has been up for grabs recently as its owner – cosmetic dental guru James Hull – decided he wanted to see his collection in new, safe hands after a run of health problems. And now it has a new owner.

James Hull has sold his entire collection to Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Operations in a deal that secures the collection’s future – and keeps it in the UK – for a price that is doubtless well below the much-vaunted £100 million it’s though to be worth.

At the core of James Hull’s collection are 130 Jaguars including XK, SS, C, D and E-types, XJ and even an XKSS, as well as some rare Land Rovers with many of the classic Jaguars and Land Rover having interesting histories and previous owners.

Investing in its heritage is a wise thing for Jaguar Land Rover to do – especially as it no longer has to rely on just its heritage to sell cars – and there’s a strong business case for having superb examples of JLR’s products from bygone days to show the lineage at new model launches, and fly the flag at heritage events.

John Edwards, JLR SVO MD, said:

We are delighted that Jaguar Land Rover has come to an agreement with James Hull to secure the future of this very significant collection of Jaguar and British cars. We share the same objective as James to keep this unique collection in British hands and we are delighted this agreement secures their custody for the future.

We look forward to continuing to work with James going forward as we develop our heritage activities.

And, despite all indications that he has sold his collection for less than it’s worth to secure a future for it in the UK, James Hull said:

Travelling all over the world to build the collection over the years has been a labour of love and a life’s work, so my primary motivation was not to get the maximum price but rather to secure the future of the collection in this country with the right custodian.

I have got to know Jaguar Land Rover well in recent years and they have borrowed cars from the collection for events such as the Mille Miglia and supporting Jaguar in China.  They are the perfect custodians to take the collection forward and I know it is in safe hands.

So, JLR and James Hull are happy, and we’ll all get to benefit by seeing cars from the collection turning up at car events and launches round the world, and a chunk of British Motoring history is secured too.

Everyone’s a winner.