Jaguar World Magazine No.156 Buying Your First Jaguar Back Issue

It was in 2001 when I first met Norman Dewis. I'd been given the honour
of driving the first E-type convertible, registration 77 R\\I, to Geneva for
the car's 40th anniversary, recreating Norman's manic, overnight run to
Switzerland in 1961 to deliver the car for demonstrations runs.
When I interviewed Norman at his house in Shropshire, he
remembered the drive to Geneva and the ensuing ten days of test drives
as if it were yesterday. His eyes lit up as he regaled the fact that the
Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari drivers couldn't keep up with the new Jaguar
sports car. Yet, he didn't bat an eyelid when I took him for lunch in the
ancient VW Polo I owned at the time, ignoring the white kitchen sealant
I'd used to stop the passenger-side window from leaking. Fourteen years on, he still greets me warmly, as he does the hundreds of people he meets in his continuing quest to educate about Jaguar's golden age. And at 94, he shows no signs of slowing down. He was instrumental in last year's 60th anniversary celebrations for the D-type, his input worthy of
the Personal Achievement of the Year accolade at the recent Historic Motoring Awards. Whenever I ask when he is going to start
taking it easy, he looks at me in horror. "What would I do?" he asks. As a
man who has spent his entire working life going fast, he has no time for
taking it slow. So the OBE he received in the New Year's Honours list was richly deserved. His contribution to the British motor industry goes beyond testing such luminaries as the E-type and XJ6 - he helped to develop disc brakes and other groundbreaking systems. But, more importantly, Norman is an absolute gentleman, which the absence of judgment on my embarrassing, brown Volkswagen testifies.