Selling at The Auburn Auction on Sept. 1-3 • The Ex-Briggs Cunningham Team Car, Denise McCluggage Race Winner
• Famed auto journalist and racer, Denise McCluggage won her 1st race in this car
• Recently featured at the Motorsports Hall of Fame upon McCluggage’s 2022 induction
• Given to McCluggage by celebrated sportsman and her race team sponsor, Briggs Cunningham
• Backed by Cunningham Motorsports’ Historian, this historic car is a surviving example with certified history and period photos
There is so much history behind this Jaguar. It deserves a very special owner who understands this and wants to be part of its legacy. It has many more stories to tell and people to meet. We’re looking forward to finding a passionate collector to be its next custodian and continue to tell its story and be part of its history
Barnaby Brokaw, President and Founder of The Motorcar Society
A recent highlight at the 2022 Motorsports Hall of Fame induction in Daytona Beach, this 1956 Jaguar XK140 caused quite a stir. Hall of Fame inductee, Denise McCluggage, won her first race in this terrific red Jag. Believed to have been lost to the sands of time, this XK was often referenced with extreme fondness by McCluggage in interviews and was discovered a couple of years after her passing at the age of 88. Denise was not only an accomplished, and quite famous, racecar driver, she was one of the greatest automobile journalists to ever put pen to paper. She brought racing and automotive coverage to the New York Herald and was the first female journalist to cover the famed Indy 500 where she had to do her interviews from outside the fence of gasoline alley as women were forbidden inside. Although quite qualified, she was forbidden to race at Le Mans as well as they steadfastly refused to allow a woman driver. She took her Competition Press and became one of the founders of Autoweek, where she remained her entire career, and here in Auburn is her long-lost Jaguar.
A recent highlight at the 2022 Motorsports Hall of Fame induction in Daytona Beach, this 1956 Jaguar XK140 caused quite a stir. Hall of Fame inductee, Denise McCluggage, won her first race in this terrific red Jag. Believed to have been lost to the sands of time, this XK was often referenced with extreme fondness by McCluggage in interviews and was discovered a couple of years after her passing at the age of 88. Denise was not only an accomplished, and quite famous, racecar driver, she was one of the greatest automobile journalists to ever put pen to paper. She brought racing and automotive coverage to the New York Herald and was the first female journalist to cover the famed Indy 500 where she had to do her interviews from outside the fence of gasoline alley as women were forbidden inside. Although quite qualified, she was forbidden to race at Le Mans as well as they steadfastly refused to allow a woman driver. She took her Competition Press and became one of the founders of Autoweek, where she remained her entire career, and here in Auburn is her long-lost Jaguar.
This car, chassis number S818207, is the car Briggs assigned to Denise. She raced it well and often, most famously at the SCCA race at New York’s Montgomery Airport where she secured a first-place class C victory on August 19, 1956. Denise McCluggage would go on to race many cars around the world, but she always referenced this 1956 XK140 Jaguar as a special touchstone in her illustrious career. She practically established the motorsports genre in print journalism. She brought automotive coverage to the New York Herald and the races of Indy 500, Le Mans, Grand Prix, and countless others to Autoweek.
This car, chassis number S818207, is the car Briggs assigned to Denise. She raced it well and often, most famously at the SCCA race at New York’s Montgomery Airport where she secured a first-place class C victory on August 19, 1956. Denise McCluggage would go on to race many cars around the world, but she always referenced this 1956 XK140 Jaguar as a special touchstone in her illustrious career. She practically established the motorsports genre in print journalism. She brought automotive coverage to the New York Herald and the races of Indy 500, Le Mans, Grand Prix, and countless others to Autoweek.
The Drophead Coupe offered a sturdier canvas top, a fixed windscreen, side windows, a small backseat as well as a walnut-veneered dashboard and door trim that reminded the driver they were in the lap of British luxury while at the wheel of a racer. This particular MC, known as SE (special equipment) in the UK, boasted a 3,442-cc, DOHC, straight six-cylinder engine, which breathed through double SU H6 carburetors, shifted through a four-speed gearbox, and was undeniably formidable on the blacktop.
The Drophead Coupe offered a sturdier canvas top, a fixed windscreen, side windows, a small backseat as well as a walnut-veneered dashboard and door trim that reminded the driver they were in the lap of British luxury while at the wheel of a racer. This particular MC, known as SE (special equipment) in the UK, boasted a 3,442-cc, DOHC, straight six-cylinder engine, which breathed through double SU H6 carburetors, shifted through a four-speed gearbox, and was undeniably formidable on the blacktop.
The current owner discovered “Lady Leadfoot,” as he affectionately calls the car, sleeping in a barn where it had resided for nearly 30 years. It boasts matching numbers and seems to be wholly unaltered since its days on the track. When it came time to vet what was believed to be Denise McCluggage’s famed Jaguar, he looked to Cunningham Motorsports’ Historian, Lawrence Berman. Once Berman had a look at the car’s pedals, he immediately knew. Brigg’s Chief Mechanic, Alfred Momo, always bent the pedals of the Cunningham team cars to allow for improved toe-heeling while racing. This was it. In a short amount of time, he confirmed that this, indeed, was Denise’s long-lost Jag and that it had also been raced by Briggs at Beverly Airport. A true original, just like its storied owner, this legendary Jaguar has been unaltered since its days as a racer and possesses all the glorious patina it has so rightfully earned. An opportunity that is unlikely to surface again, chassis S818207 is such a significant part of American racing history and the journalistic genre that gave it life. This Jaguar has many more places to go and stories to tell in the future.
Featured Media & News
The Ex-Briggs Cunningham Team Car, Denise McCluggage Race Winner
1956 Jaguar XK140 MC DHC
• Famed auto journalist and racer, Denise McCluggage won her 1st race in this car
• Recently featured at the Motorsports Hall of Fame upon McCluggage’s 2022 induction
• Given to McCluggage by celebrated sportsman and her race team sponsor, Briggs Cunningham
• Backed by Cunningham Motorsports’ Historian, this historic car is a surviving example with certified history and period photos
