It’s a good thing Hector Castro has friends.
Castro, who owns the renowned HRC Jaguars restoration shop, doesn’t live in Chicago, but instead he resides in Denver, North Carolina. But when he answered the phone four years ago, a friend of his in Chicago was on the other end and had called to advise him that a pair of old Jaguars had just appeared in his local newspaper that morning.
“It was for two 1935 SS Airline Coupes, which were very limited production,” Castro says. “Bill Harrah had one in his museum a long time ago. So I called and spoke to the owner for a while, and agreed to buy the two cars sight-unseen.”
Castro says the model is extremely rare, and that probably no more than 10 remain in the world today out of 624 built between 1934 and 1936. The Airline Coupe differs from a standard version because the rear of the body is sloped down with a seductive curve in a streamlined, Art Deco style. The cars featured all-steel bodies built over sturdy wooden frames. Inside, occupants cuddled in four separate bucket seats.
Looking like a pile of so many car parts, actually two disassembled SS, or Jaguar, Airline Coupes are mixed up with other Jaguar parts. Hector Castro will assemble one or both of the gorgeous cars, but his waiting list is years long. TOM COTTER
The cars were powered by 2.5 liter push-rod engines that breathed through two SU carburetors, generating 70 horsepower. They were capable of achieving about 100 miles per hour.
The two cars Castro purchased have a particularly interesting and tragic story. Originally imported from New Zealand to California, they were purchased by two friends, a doctor and a restorer. Their plan was for the doctor to fund the two cars’ restoration, which would be performed by his partner, the restorer. They would then sell the cars and split the profits.
Both cars were assembled and complete when purchased by the two gentlemen. But when the restoration began, the cars were disassembled nut-by-nut, bolt-by-bolt. Then, tragically, the restorer/partner died, and the doctor was stuck with two rare, albeit disassembled Jags. He was not in a position to complete the projects and was forced to sell them at fire-sale prices.
“So this guy in Chicago bought them, thinking he could restore and sell the cars,” Castro says. “But it was too big a project for him, so that’s when they were advertised in the Chicago newspaper.”
Castro purchased the cars on behalf of a client, and they are in line to become restored, although he has a five-year waiting list. “At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll restore both cars or just one and use the second car for parts,” Castro says.
Today, the two cars sit literally in a pile of what appear to be rusty, generic old car parts in the corner of the HRC shop in North Carolina—a sad fate for two gorgeous cars.
But Castro has a reputation of taking rusty, old, generic car parts and making beautiful machinery out them.