7 replies to this topic

[David Beard]

I often see references to a collection of cars owned by Nigel Moores (“Willie Eckerslyke”) Was this an entirely private affair, or were there ever any photos of cars in the collection? I don't think he raced them all.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by David Beard
I often see references to a collection of cars owned by Nigel Moores (“Willie Eckerslyke”) Was this an entirely private affair, or were there ever any photos of cars in the collection? I don't think he raced them all.

Dunno - he went through D-types like there was no tomorrow (back in the early 70s, when I guess they were just going from "old racing cars" to valuable collectors' items) - I've no idea if he kept them all concurrently though?

[Peter Morley]

Just found the following (while I was working out how to spend my lottery win!), it is relating to the history of a D-type Jag but tells a lot about Nigel Moores.

Apart from his huge collection of Jaguars I know he had a huge amount of Coventry Climax spares, which ended up with either John Harper or Sid Hoole

Gibson-Jarvie, and eventually sold it on to noted British club racing owner/driver John Coundley before passing it on yet again, this time to Littlewoods football pools and mail-order house heir, and committed Jaguar collector, Nigel Moores.

Many years after Mr. Moores’ tragically premature death as a passenger involved in someone else’s road traffic accident, XKD 515 was sold together with the balance of his glittering car collection to one of the U.K’s finest automobile collectors.

During Mr Moores’ ownership the car was raced occasionally, the driver appearing in British historic sports car race program entries as “Willie Eckerslyke”, this being the pseudonym which Nigel Moores adopted under the Scouse/Liverpudlian slang expression which translates effectively as “Will he? Heck as like...” meaning that “he” would be most unlikely to do anybody else’s bidding...

A majority amongst the British historic racing fraternity was fully familiar with “Willie Eckerslyke’s” true identity, but he was keen to keep his motor sporting activities as quiet and secure as possible, having raced at up to International level in such charismatic events as the Nurburgring 1,000 and 500 Kilometers World Championship rounds, and the Spa 24-Hours touring car classic - at one time in the early ‘60s actually running his Morris Minor tow car in one of the Nurburgring classics after his intended race car broke its engine during practice. “The only thing the technical scrutineers made me do... “he recalled, was to remove the tow-hitch!”.

“Willie Eckerslyke” also ran his own compact car tuning and preparation company which he christened Longbacon Engineering after another local northeast England expression which we will not explore further...

[joe twyman]

My father has a Cooper T45 from the collection, which we are trying to trace the history, without much luck. Moore's mechanic Bill Allen did not know much about the car neither did David McKinney. The originality cannot be dispuited, but the chassis number is the missing piece to the puzzle....I will try and post a picture if i can.

[Ted Walker]

Nigel Moores was the heir to the Littlewoods Pools empire, and involved with Longbacon Eng, who entered cars in the 60s. I think he owned maybe 7 or 8 Ds and XKss at one time,also early Lotus and Ferraris etc. Also involved was Bill Allen whos son is well known if you watch F1 on ITV.

[David Beard]

I did a bit of Googling which revealed that Bill Allen once drove a Longbacon Lotus Cortina at Spa. (Is he still around?) and that perhaps there was a Longbacon Formula Junior.

[Doug Nye]

AFAIK (correct initials?) Bill Allen is still around. Somewhere I have dozens of photographs I took of the Nigel Moores Collection as it was when we - as the Christie's Car department - valued it at Ormskirk, on Jersey and in the Lakeland Motor Museum, including the assorted D-Types, 4-cyl Ferraris and engines and the Amilcars. Nigel was a great fan of the Amilcar and had a vision of an entire front grid row of the cars at a VSCC Oulton Park meeting, making an immense noise until the starter's flag dropped - whereupon they would all dribble off the line, for flat out in a Surbaisse is not an eyeball-squashing experience...

DCN

[joe twyman]

Bill Allen is still around....Wrote to him only a few weeks ago..Do you have any T45 pics Doug?