Highland Fling, Graham Bosworth, 1999
The Artwork
The Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust bought this part-restored 1935 SS1 Airline in 1994, completing its restoration in 1999.
On 5 June 1999 the Trust entered it into the Luis Vuitton Classic at the Hurlingham Club. Prior to this, we commissioned local Coventry based artist Graham Bosworth to paint the car.
As the car’s first owner, Captain Clough had used it for touring, Graham opted for a highland backdrop and called his painting ‘Highland Fling’.
The painting is on display at the Collections Centre at the British Motor Museum.
The Artist
Graham was born in Coventry in 1944 in the heart of the motor industry and grew up with a passionate interest in the motor car and motor sport.
He clearly remembers the sight and sound of “C” and “D” Type Jaguars being road-tested past his childhood home and has vivid memories of first visits to Silverstone in the mid fifties.
After leaving school Graham trained as a Technical Illustrator at the Coventry College of Art then joined one of the city’s leading illustration and design studios. He applied for a job at Jaguar Cars as a Technical Illustrator but, after viewing his portfolio, the interviewer said he was ‘too good’ and his talent would be wasted at Jaguar. He and another designer went on to form their own design studio engaging in all forms of line and airbrush exploded and cutaway drawings. He worked on a varied number of contracts covering cars, commercial vehicles, aircraft and machine tools, including a contract for Jaguar completing some of the illustrations in the Owner’s Handbook for the E-type.
His work has been exhibited at the Gibson Moore Gallery, Silverstone Classic, Goodwood Festival of Speed, the International Historic Motorsport Show at Stoneleigh, the Historic Car Art Gallery, the Coventry Transport Museum, many Guild of Motoring Artists exhibitions as well as here in Gaydon.
The Car
This SS1 Airline, AWR 564, is one of the best-known and most well preserved remaining examples. It was delivered new in March 1935 to a Captain S Clough by Yorkshire SS dealer Glovers of Harrogate.
By 1948 the car had passed to L A Reid of Kirby near Liverpool who owned it until 1984 when it was bought by the History of Jaguar Museum in Maldon which had the car restored by local specialists Fulbridge.
In 1994 the museum closed and the car was put up for auction by Brooks where it was purchased by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust with the aid of a grant from the Prism Trust. This painting is on display on the Art Wall in the Collections Centre at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon.
Click the button for more information on AWR 564:
Additional Information
In 2000 Jaguar Cars commissioned Graham to paint another car in our Collection, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s Mark VII Jaguar, 464 HYV. This was presented to her on her 100th birthday and we believe this painting went to the Castle of Mey, her Scottish Residence.
The car is painted with the Queen Mother’s own registration number of NLT 7.
Click the button for more information on 464 HYV:
Graham was commissioned to create one other painting of a car currently in our Collection, our 1954 Jaguar XK140 registered TNK 745. At the time this car was in the collection of Dr James Hull having won the Jaguar Drivers Club Champion of Champions Concours. Dr Hull later sold his Collection to Jaguar Cars.
This XK140 is on loan to the JDHT from Jaguar Classic Works and is on display in the Collections Centre in Gaydon.