2005-11-22 12:51:21 | David Barnett, Classic AutoSports, Scotland writes:

I bought this in north Dallas around December 2002. It has a fibre glass body. The XK150 chassis, suspension, brakes, steering, instruments have all been retained. The last name in the title is Paul Gathers of Lafayette, Indiana, but i don't know if he was the original builer of this special.

2005-11-22 22:21:26 | Len Brighton writes:

Hi David. I have to say that I would prefer to see it back to FHC body. However, it has the potential to look very nice. I hope you are going to put an XK engine back in it.
Regards Len S824101

2005-12-18 06:10:07 | Peter Ingram writes:

Message for Len brightman: Do you still have 824101 - This register says it is in
Australia!!

2013-08-13 16:53:44 | pauls writes:

Under close examination by the seller in 2013 the VIN appears to be S837783DN. This earlier history has been recorded under this VIN tho they are the same car. If anyone can add to the ID or history of the car please post it here.

2014-12-16 08:48:34 | david writes:

When I owned this car the chassis number appeared to be S834783 and all the import documentation, customs papers into the UK also carried the same number.

2015-02-04 04:28:06 | Anonymous writes:

Previously owned by Wilson Whitmire, Dallas, Texas.

2015-07-25 12:19:40 | pauls writes:

The car is now listed to be at auction 8/15
www.coys.co.uk/auction.php
Note: there is a dispute about the VIN it is possibly 837783.

Auction description:
Nurburgring
Date: 8th August 2015
Lot 113 - 1958 Jaguar XK 150 SWB Cozzi Special
Estimate: €100,000 - €140,000
Registration Number: Not Registered
Chassis Number: 837783

In the late 1950s an unlikely alliance of four disparate individuals conspired to create one of the best sports racing specials of that era. How could a mechanically gifted teenager, a supportive father, a hot-rodder neighbour and a California panel-beater have accomplished so much with so little? Well, one must remember that this was the fab '50s - the war was over, the economy was booming, and any dream could become a reality courtesy of application of the American work ethic.
Dan Cozzi spent his childhood investigating the mechanics of his playthings. While other high school students were dissecting frogs, Dan was taking apart his bicycles, often improving them as part of the re-assembly. He built a 12-speed off road bike with knobby tires long before someone else invented the mountain bike. His first internal combustion engine experience came when he was able to purchase a disassembled Cushman scooter. Soon Cozzi had it purring like a kitten, only to sell it because the next evolution in his do-it-yourself mechanical engineering studies had suddenly presented itself. Cozzi had first met his neighbour Bill Nielson when the latter invited him over to see a Model A Hi-Boy Hot Rod that he was finishing in his driveway. Cozzi remembers: "I was speechless - this car was so low I could put my hand on the rad-cap without reaching. Everything was exposed - so complex yet so simple". Cozzi was later given a loud and windblown ride to the local gas station. He was hooked.
When the thirteen year old returned home with plans to build his own hot rod, his father said "No", but conceded to an alternative - tearing down and hopping up a junkyard Ford Flathead V8. Later, when Nielson's interest shifted from Hot Rods to Sports Cars, Cozzi went along for that ride. In 1953, just before he turned 16, Dan bought his first car, a 1949 MG TC with savings earned from pumping gas and cleaning up at the local race shop. This was followed by a '41 Ford Business Coupe - "one of the best cars I ever owned and faster than the TC", but still, "I wanted to build my own car".

Neilson, now an XK 120 owner, suggested that Dan base his own special on Jaguar parts. Jaguar's advanced DOHC six-cylinder engine, four-speed transmission, rack and pinion steering, big brakes and front independent wishbone suspension on torsion bars would be a much better starting point than a pile of pre-war Ford parts.

Using all of the standard XK 120 suspension parts in their original locations on the new chassis meant that Cozzi didn't have to redo the geometry, thus preserving the already superior handling built-in by the Factory. Under Bill's guidance a simple plan was hatched - find a wrecked Jaguar, build a tubular ladder chassis on which to install the parts and clothe the whole affair in aluminium body panels. One problem: a teenager can't manage a project like this from a part-time job income! So a financial plan was presented to his parents.

After some negotiation they agreed to back their son in his basement project. "My father was to fund the construction, and I promised Mom that I would return to my engineering studies after a one-term break and that I would not drive it in racing - I was 18 years old and this was the chance of a lifetime!"
With Bill Nielson's help, the project began in October 1955 and by the end of the quarter-term Cozzi was able to roll the chassis out on its own wheels and tires. Dan returned to college, but parts for the engine rebuild had been ordered from England and his spare time was spent on oil pan repairs and having a fuel tank, radiator and water coolant tank built. Bill Neilson assisted with a set of body drawings and Jack Hagemann, a true master of metal with a renowned reputation, hand-crafted the alloy panels over the following nine months. Neilson's design was faithfully followed, resulting in a sensuous shape worthy of the best offered by Italian Carrozzerias like Scaglietti - but of superior quality due to Hagemann's metal-forming skills on the English wheel.
In the spring of 1956 Cozzi began the final assembly and also road-registered it as a '1955 Jaguar Special' in the San Leandro, California office of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
As much fun as it was on the peninsula sports car roads, Dan Cozzi's real interest lay in racing his car against Porsches, Ferraris and Maseratis, the current front runners in road racing.
The car on offer today was built on the chassis of a Jaguar XK 150 SWB DHC and the body is in fibreglass, so it is lighter than the one built on the XK 120 chassis. The history of the owners and the discovery of this XK 150 Special is amazing: the car was commissioned, built and driven by Dean Cozzi, which is confirmed by an email from Chuck Tunnlund, who bought and drove the car from the 1960. From this letter we also know that the second owner and driver of this car was Bill Breeze, father of the famous bicycle frame builder Joe Breeze. Chuck Tunnlund bought the car from Mr Breeze, and was the last American who raced with the car. This Cozzi Special remained in the USA until the 2003 when Mr Wilson Wittmire bought the car in Scotland in barnfind condition, and sold the car to Mr Richard Meadows.

After Meadows the car went to a Mr Rattenbacner of Austria and then to Mr Egmondt Wimmder who bought the car to use the chassis on his XK 150 body. On this occasion he discovered that the chassis was a SWB because the body was too long for it. The current owner bought the car directly from Mr Wimmder.

The car is accompanied from detailed documentation concerning its discovery and restoration. In recent years it has raced in important Italian meetings like the Vernasca Silver Flag. An excellent opportunity to acquire one of the rarest Jaguars ever built!

2015-07-30 11:09:12 | Peter Ingram writes:

See also 680744 !!!!!

2015-08-02 07:12:20 | David Barnett writes:

As a previous owner of this car I can state the above auction description is very wrong in many respects.
Most of the description is fiction, some of it relates to a car built on the 120 fhc chassis (680744), and this one was not competed with prior to 2005.
More trivial things like ownership trail and locations are also wrong, which are perhaps deliberate to confuse ?
The workmanship in this car compared to 680744 bears no relation. 680744 is a lovely constructed car, this was very horrible with a lot of very rough fibreglass matting very amateurishly laid up and looked very much like somebody's first attempt at making a shape or Bodyshell.
Most fibreglass constructions are significantly heavier than alloy made ones and this most certainly will be.

Shame when people feel they have to resort to this. There is no need. Just greed.