One lesson Adam White learned from reading Cobra in the Barn is that if you hope to discover a great barn find, you need to talk about cars to everyone you meet. Period. Take it from big-time barn-finder Jay Leno—he suggests talking cars with mechanics, postmen, landscapers, and police officers.
Well, White recently applied that lesson, and it paid off in spades.
White was riding in a truck helping to deliver a copy machine near Charlotte, North Carolina, when the conversation with the driver turned to old cars. White lamented how his perennial favorites are classic Jaguars. What the driver said next was the most intriguing kind of news White could have hoped for:
“I know someone who has a bunch of old Jaguars.”
White’s obsession with Jags goes back to when he was a teenager growing up on Long Island, New York, in the 1970s. One of his first jobs in high school was at a repair shop for imported cars. “Even Jaguar engines are elegant,” White says.
“So I finally met the truck driver’s friend, Franziska Long, and her father, Graham, and saw their amazing collection in their backyard and barn. The barn was packed with six Jags, a couple of parts cars, and loads of parts and shop equipment,” he says. “There were a pair of XK-120 Roadsters, a pair of XK-150 Coupes, an early E-Type Coupe, and a MK I sedan, which looked like a wedding car.” The cars had been stored and forgotten for a long time. White wanted to find out how they all arrived there.
By mentioning to a stranger that he liked old Jaguars, Adam White was turned onto the Jaguar discovery of a lifetime. Graham Long acquired a dozen Jags over the years, all stored in this cramped barn. TOM COTTER
He discovered that Graham had been quite an adventurer in his youth. Now 70, Graham suffers from dementia. But as a young man, he drove one of the XK-120 Roadsters, a 1951, across Australia, the length of Africa, and across Europe before arriving back home in England. After moving to Charlotte with his Jaguar in 1982, Graham began buying additional Jaguars and parts.
Long drove this XK120 across Australia, Africa, and Europe as a young man. The collection includes coupes, sedans, and another roadster. TOM COTTER
“He bought Jags and parts cars from Pennsylvania, New York, and Alabama,” White says. “He also scoured junkyards throughout the East Coast, acquiring numerous engines, gearboxes, and other parts.”
White discovered that Graham was quite a mechanic; he converted the MK I sedan to MK IV disc brakes and Weber Carburetors. “And he didn’t like 4.2-liter engines, so he converted the E-type to an earlier 3.8-liter engine, complete with Carrillo connecting rods and Weber carbs,” White says. “It’s a valuable engine.”
Lately, the family has been faced with a dilemma; since their father is no longer able to maintain the cars, his children are considering selling the collection. “He has two sons, one of whom lives in England, and each is interested in a Jag,” White says. “And Franziska would like to sell the rest of the cars to help finance her father’s care.”
Franziska asked White, the ultimate Jaguar enthusiast, whether he’d like to own one of the projects.
“If I had the cash, I’d love to own any one of those cars,” he says. “Just not right now.”