By Charlotte Reid 
No one knows how or why it got there, but its new owner is determined to bring it back to life.
Although accustomed to unexpected discoveries, Jens Rentneesters, an antique dealer by profession, could not believe his eyes. He was asked to evaluate the furniture and everything else in an old Belgian chip shop.
So far, nothing out of the ordinary, as chips and fricandelles are an institution there, but he didn’t expect to find an old Jaguar Type S mysteriously hidden beneath his feet. It wasn’t buried in the literal sense, but it was in a pit, like a pharaoh in his tomb.
A treasure under his feet
Jens Rentmeesters, an antique dealer from Leuven, has made many special finds when clearing out old properties for sale, but finding an old Jaguar is something very special for him. ‘This is the best,’ he tells VRT. “Especially because I didn’t expect it. I’ve also found a gold necklace and old love letters. It’s not always about the monetary value, the emotional value counts too.”
In addition to the house, its furniture and what remained of the chip shop’s commercial activity, there was also a garage. Jens saw that it was full of mini-motorbikes and other boat parts, but he thought that was all. ‘As we emptied the cluttered garage, we realised there was a hidden space under the garage floor. What we found there exceeded our wildest expectations,’ he says.
Locked in a rectangular pit that seemed to have been built specifically for it was a 1964 Jaguar Type S 3.8. The luxurious British car seemed to be waiting to be freed from its tomb. How it got there is a mystery. The owner wanted to hide it from the Belgian tax authorities, from his wife, or simply left it there to continue repairing it, no one knows. What’s more, not even the neighbours remember ever seeing that car before.
But before delving into its past, the antique dealer had another more urgent challenge on his hands: getting the car out of its pit without damaging it. After imagining all the possible scenarios, including removing the garage roof and using a crane to lift it, the man decided to use the oldest method: wooden planks.
He had the old Jaguar towed with a van so that he could drive it up the planks, which were inclined at about 40 degrees. As delicate as it was, the wood held up and the car came out intact. Well, as intact as a car that has spent the last 50 years or more locked in a mausoleum can be.
The recovered Jaguar Type S is in a state of preservation worthy of a car that has been stored in a corner of a barn for decades. In other words, there is little left of it. Without a bonnet, the car also lacks its 3.8-litre, 220 hp inline six-cylinder engine. Its dusty bodywork appears to be fairly well preserved.
The antique dealer estimates its value in its current condition at between €15,000 and €20,000, while a fully restored model with its original engine could fetch up to €60,000 at auction. In any case, the antique dealer wants to restore it, “but it’s not about the money. There are some things you just can’t part with, and this is one of them. The discovery is more important than the value,” he says.