Man ruled owner of race car

A Dublin panel beater, who spent €40,000 and “thousands of man hours” restoring a dream race car he found discarded in a barn, has been told by a judge that the 64-year-old Jaguar XK 120 is now legally his.

Derek Tynan, who owns a bodyshop and service centre at Damastown, Blanchardstown, told the Circuit Civil Court he had been given the car by the widow of a former car dealer when he cleared out a barn for her.

Mr Tynan shed tears in court when Judge Jacqueline Linnane rejected a counter claim by classic car dealer Desmond Quinn, of Oliver Plunkett Terrace, Moate, Co Westmeath, that the car was his. Barrister Derek Cooney, counsel for Mr Tynan, told the court that the car had been shipped in crates to Ireland in 1951 and assembled here by a Dublin company. It would be worth at least €120,000 when fully restored.