The first car in the above lineup is a 1988 model in black over gold. It has many options: dual airco, and electric division, windows, and door locks. While still in the UK, this car had brandnew rear quarterpanels installed by Steve Robey from Maidstone, Kent, UK. And contrary to the suggestion in the photo, this car did not end up with a rerouted exhaust.

The second car in the row is Bob's pride and joy: this Carlton grey 1988 car, vin SAJDWATL4AA201074. It is an original LHD car, beige leather interior, with many options such as cocktail cabinet, TV and a satellite radio control in the rear opening armrest. The car had done 15,000 Km when he bought it, and this has now doubled. The body is in flawless and rustfree, original state.

It was originally ordered by and delivered to Bennett S. LeBow, financier and tobacco magnate.

One of the last DS420 limos to leave the factory was this 1992 black over maroon car: VIN #201601; the production stopped 30 cars later. It was converted to LHD driving and to a landaulette, and it also received an XJS supercharged engine:

The fourth car in the row, 1989 model, is actually not part of Bob's collection, but prepared by him and his company for the collection of Lee Barthel of Detroit. Originally in black, the car was completely stripped with doors off, and then painted a 1939 Packard color over Dorchester gray. Bob's men also converted it to LHD.

Similarly, the car shown here (not present on the lineup photo) once was part of Bob's fleet, but now has moved on to a local limousine company. Originally, it was the Mayoral car of Chelmsford, England. It dates from 1990, steering is RHD, and it is silver over dark grey with many options including curtains.

The fifth car in the lineup is a 1988 model in black. It used to be owned by a Japanese bank, has now run 16,000 Km and has a flawless, rustfree body that has never been touched. The steering has been converted to LHD by Steve Robey.

The front interior is in gray leather. The rear used to have West of England cloth but that had to be replaced and is now in dark red leather. This work was also done by Mr. Robey in England.

 
When the DS420 was introduced in 1968, VandenPlas also built a mock-up of a shortened coupe, four doors, on the unaltered Jaguar 420G floorpan. The project never came past this mock-up phase, and pictures were never published until Brian Long showed this photo (right) almost 25 years later in an article in the Jaguar Quarterly journal. We have a separate photo gallery on this coupe, which shows more information on this project, including a mockup of a similar two-door brainchild. 40 years later, Bob actually took the challenge and realised the two-door version! Registration no. BRG0296 (USA). He started with a standard limousine, shortened it, flattened the roof somewhat, and also extended the doors by 10" (some hearse builders fitted extended doors as well). In August 2009, the project was nearly finished, and the pictures below were taken:

Judy Boston, Bob's wife, is an avid collector of all things Christmas and Halloween. Being married to a car guy inevitably meant that a combination of these two worlds resulted in an exceptional display. These pictures appeared in The Driving Member magazine of November 2014.