Keith Newby and his Jaguar XJ6
Keith was born on August 5th 1930 in Risley, Derbyshire. Aged 15, he left home and got a job on a farm new Broadway, and on passing his test, he became a milkman at Flaxholme Dairies in Duffield (now Benz Bavarian Car Dealership).
When the owner of the dairy retired, Keith bought his milk round and successfully ran his business for 43 years before selling it to Co-Op Dairies.
Like many successful business owners, Keith aspired to Jaguar ownership. Having bought a Mk2 in the 1960’s, he was to remain staunchly a Jaguar man for the rest of his life. With a young family, the Mk2 was followed by a 420G and then a V12 E-Type which was not terribly family-friendly!
The E-Type was replaced by a Series One XJ6 before Keith bought his last and favourite Jaguar: a 1981 Series 3 Long Wheelbase XJ6 4.2.
Even after he stopped driving, Keith refused to part with this car, which remained undriven in his garage in Belper for more than 20 years. Sadly, Keith passed away in the winter of 2025, and the Jaguar lay undisturbed in the garage: dry, secure, but in need of some TLC.
Keith’s son, Mark, contacted us and indicated that he would like to donate the Jaguar to Great British Car Journey in memory of his Dad. On Tuesday 28th July, Keith’s Jaguar left Belper on a flatbed truck – on a very short journey up the A6 to Ambergate.
Our amazing volunteers have removed 20 years of dust and grime and the Jaguar now looks amazing and in line with the low mileage of 50,000 showing on the clock. She is now in our workshop and our mechanics are in the process of resuscitating her from a very long sleep.
The engine is turning over freely, the fuel pump is working, but we are still waiting for that magnificent six cylinder engine to burst into life. She is currently being moved around on wheel dollies as the brakes are well and truly seized, so watch this space for further updates.
We are of course incredibly grateful to Mark Newby for donating his Dad’s pride and joy to us and we very much hope to have her running and on display soon. A lovely example of car love bestowed on a car which has celebrated it’s 45th Birthday in August this year.