How it all started

It was in fact the Railton Mobil Special, the world land speed record holder (and even this model was fast which eventually led to its own downfall as it failed to survive the high speed crashes into various bits of furniture and skirting boards).

My father explained that Reid Railton was his second cousin and had designed this and many other record-breaking cars and boats for the likes of Malcolm Campbell and John Cobb. He mentioned briefly that there was a car named after Reid Railton that was very highly thought of, but at the age of 9 this did not seem important. Over the ensuing forty-odd years I became interested in cars, originally as a mode of transport (the family propensity to "go fast" appeared evidenced by many kindly notes from the traffic police) but latterly as a hobby and thing of enjoyment.

I gradually gleaned snippets of information about the Railton cars, their relative rarity due to small number built and their high attrition rate. I wanted one, but alas it was extremely unlikely that I would ever find one let alone be able to afford one.

In 1996 I was big game fishing in the Bay of Plenty when one of my fishing buddies told us about his latest acquisition - a Jaguar XK150S, imported from the USA, converted to right-hand drive and undergoing a complete restoration. Further discussion on matters vehicular and eventually the subject got around to Railtons followed by the usual look of disbelief when performance, acceleration and rarity were mentioned.

More interesting discussions, some great fishing, a few good beers and companionship and then nothing more for about 3 months.

Then out of the blue a call came from a dealer in Christchurch, "You don't know me but I've located a Railton Drophead Coupe in Chicago - are you interested?"



It was the dealer who had located the Jaguar for my mate. Could I afford one? What was the condition like? Can I have some photos and a complete description? At moments like this emotion can overrule both head and wallet.