The Swedish athlete Gunder Hagg was during the 1940s one of the top runners in the world, setting no less then 16 world records on distances from 1500 up to 5000 meters. After his sports career, he treated himself to one of the most refined automobiles of the time, a 1958 Jaguar Mk VIII, now for sale at Bilweb Auctions.
Gunder Hagg owned the car for 18 years and was very attached to it, which is easy to understand. This Mk VIII radiates British elegance, especially since it has a two-tone paint in ”Black over Claret”.
The two-tone was supposed to accentuate the length of the car and the darker color was always on top, divided from the lighter tone with an almost five meter long chrome strip along the waist.
The interior brings about a feeling of a British gentleman’s club, with grey Vaumol leather from Connolly, carpets from Wilton and acres of polished walnut veneer. The rear seat passengers are treated with picnic tables that unfolds from the back of the front seats.
The engine is a Jaguar icon, the 3.4 litre inline XK-six with double overhead camshafts, a classic piece of engineering that lived on in the E-type and vitally in all Jaguar models for a long time ahead.
¨In the Mk VIII it develops 210 horsepower and the engine block was painted in turquoise!
The Gunder Hagg car is RHD, which wasn’t too unusual for British car in Sweden at the time, after all the country still drove on the left side of the road.
The car is in an original state, but partly repainted and now showing some rust bubbles and cracks. In the driver’s seat, the leather shows some wear and tear. The car can be driven as it is or be a fantastic base for a restoration.
The Jaguar Mk VIII was launched in 1956 and was a mild update of the Mk VII that arrived already in 1950. The VIII was in production for only three years and 6 227 cars were made. A substantial amount of these went to the USA.
Bilweb Auctions estimated the value of the auction car to between 160 000 and 200 000 SEK. The auction closes on 17 August.
