"This was my dad's XK120. He bought new from Jack Flaherty of British Motors of Monterey. The car was blue when it came off the boat and had an oil stain on the rear of the car. The only color that would cover it up was black. 

As a kid it was my job to keep the car clean and waxed. One day my mother had boiled some tomato soup in an aluminum pan, my dad noticed that the pan was shiny and clean. Within a week I had dug a hole in the back yard and we placed an old bath tub over the pit. In went all of the aluminum engine parts, lots of tomato juice and a fire built under the tub. Later everything was reassembled, buffed out, the car waxed with Colinite wax. The Jag was entered in the Pebble Beach Concours. 

A few years later the Jag was sold to someone in San Francisco. 50 years later I found an auction in England and there was my dad's Jag; it was painted green with knock-off wheels. I have a picture of it and the write-up mentions my dad racing it at Pebble Beach."