A Jaguar dealer and racing-team owner whose modified Mk1 and Mk2 saloons dominated British saloon-car racing around 1960, driven by stars including Graham Hill and Roy Salvadori.

What is a Coombs Mk2?

A Jaguar Mk2 3.8 modified by John Coombs with engine, gearbox, suspension and brake upgrades and distinctive reprofiled rear wheelarches — the template for the fast-road Mk2.

What are the Coombs rear wheelarches?

Coombs removed the standard rear spats and rolled the rear arch to match the front, originally for quicker race wheel changes; the look was so good it became the car's signature.

How many Coombs Mk2s were made?

Around 33 genuine period Coombs-modified cars are thought to have been built, making an authentic one a rare and very valuable car.

Knowledge base

The Coombs Mk2 & Competition History

By Jon Cosson — classic-car owner, North Yorkshire, near Thornton-le-Dale

1960s British saloon race car cornering on a club circuit with a number roundel on the door and period spectators behind — Placeholder image — owner to replace with a period or event photograph.

Every fast-road Mk2 — including this one — traces its recipe back to one name: John Coombs. His racing and road cars are the reason "restomod Mk2" means what it does.

Racing on Sunday, selling on Monday

John Coombs & Son were Jaguar dealers in Guildford. A club racer himself (he ran a Mk1 at the 1956 Silverstone TT), Coombs became a team owner whose modified Jaguar saloons were, at the turn of the 1960s, the tin-tops to beat — driven by Roy Salvadori, Graham Hill, Mike Salmon and even Colin Chapman (who won at Silverstone in a Coombs car in 1960, then bought one). Only the arrival of the Ford Galaxie and Lotus Cortina in 1963 broke the run. His cars wore the legendary BUY 1, BUY 12 and TRY 1 registration plates.

The Coombs conversion

Customer demand turned that racing knowledge into a menu of road-car upgrades, focused on the Mk2 3.8: an uprated engine (special camshafts, a lightened flywheel, uprated carburettors, a big-bore/extractor exhaust, often a gas-flowed big-valve head), a close-ratio gearbox, uprated and lowered suspension, better brakes — and the signature touch, modified rear wheelarches: the spats removed and the arch rolled to match the front, done for quick race wheel-changes but so handsome it became the defining Coombs look.

Why it matters today

Genuine period Coombs cars — perhaps 33 were built — are six-figure rarities. But their real legacy is the template: the fast-road Mk2 as we know it — five-speed, uprated brakes, sorted suspension and E-type-fed power — is the Coombs idea brought up to date. That is exactly what a modern restomod Mk2 is, as in The Build: 873 EUT.

Common questions

Who was John Coombs?: A Jaguar dealer and racing-team owner whose modified Mk1 and Mk2 saloons dominated British saloon-car racing around 1960, driven by stars including Graham Hill and Roy Salvadori.
What is a Coombs Mk2?: A Jaguar Mk2 3.8 modified by John Coombs with engine, gearbox, suspension and brake upgrades and distinctive reprofiled rear wheelarches — the template for the fast-road Mk2.
What are the Coombs rear wheelarches?: Coombs removed the standard rear spats and rolled the rear arch to match the front, originally for quicker race wheel changes; the look was so good it became the car's signature.
How many Coombs Mk2s were made?: Around 33 genuine period Coombs-modified cars are thought to have been built, making an authentic one a rare and very valuable car.