1952 Jaguar XK120 OTS

• The XK120 Roadster - as elegant as XK Jaguars can ever be
• A landmark Jaguar sports car and the world’s fastest production car in its day
• Sourced specifically from the US by Jaguar specialists for restoration/enhancement
• Two-year nut and bolt rebuild, now in RHD with added driving enhancements (including power-steering, disc brakes, uprated suspension)
• Beautiful colour combination of California Sage paintwork with a Biscuit interior
• Recently finished, shaken down and ready to enjoy

A car-starved Britain, still trundling around in perpendicular pre-war hangover vehicles, glimpsed the future in October 1948 with the launch of the Jaguar XK120 at the Earls Court Motor Show. Production commenced in 1949 in Coventry, and the XK's swoopy shape and stylish occupants would become a common sight on British roads over the next 15 years. It heralded the arrival of Jaguar's famous 3.4-litre twin overhead camshaft XK engine, (the basis of all their engines for the next 25 years) with an alloy cylinder head and twin side-draught SU carburettors producing nearly 160bhp. The “120” referred to the car's top speed which, at the time, made it the fastest production car in the world. Jaguar seems to have always had a flair for marketing and to illustrate that the car's top speed was not a figment of a publicist's imagination, in May 1949, on the Jabbeke to Aeltre autoroute, an XK120 with its hood and side screens in place recorded a speed of 126mph, and no less than 132mph with the hood and windscreen detached and an undertray fitted. The car was in almost instant demand and when on to spawn the famous XK lineage of fast and elegant sports cars.

The car offered here is a 1952 Jaguar XK120 OTS (or Roadster) which has been meticulously restored from the ground up over the last two years by long-established Jaguar and Bentley specialists ‘DJB Engineering’ of Northamptonshire. The father and son team that run the company imported this car from the US specifically for this project. The car’s Heritage Certificate tells us that this particular XK120 OTS was manufactured on the 20th of May 1952 and was (unsurprisingly) LHD originally, fitted with a manual gearbox and painted Suede Green with matching interior and a French Grey hood. It was sold through Jaguar distributors, a Hornburg of Los Angeles, to its first owner, the pleasingly named, Mr K McCorkle.

Converted to right-hand drive and with fully renewed bodywork, adopting a fast-road/racer aesthetic, the car now looks simply resplendent in Aston Martin California Sage, by craftsman Steve Chandler, with a Biscuit interior by Workshop 77 of Weedon Bec. Knowing the potential of these early XKs as proper driving machines, DJB Engineering also ensured this car has had some sympathetic upgrades beneath the skin. Fitted with a full stainless-steel exhaust, a 5-speed gearbox, adjustable shock-absorbers, hydraulic power-steering, polyurethane suspension bushes, hard passivated suspension components, an external oil cooler, larger volume radiator with an electric fan, and full servo-assisted disc brakes with Coopercraft billet calipers, this car is now extremely capable. Added to this, the lustful 3.4-litre XK engine has been fully rebuilt and dressed, with an overhauled cylinder head fitted with a new composite head gasket and new timing chains installed.

During the restoration, simply no corners were cut, and the car features virtually every available improvement to make it most exciting to campaign. Photographic records show every stage of the process, literally from the prepared chassis and up. The car has been ‘shaken-down’ with road trails and performs as well as it presents. Father and son were sorely tempted to hang on to their recently finished car, such is its appeal and ability, however, a new project awaits.

The XK120 OTS was hugely influential in period and has an elegance of line that would be completely at home on the manicured lawns of Pebble Beach, however, there is no denying that, in standard form, the 1940’s mechanicals are a touch ‘agricultural’. This superb example, on the other hand, with its intelligent upgrades drives, brakes and handles like a ‘modern classic’ offering, we believe, the best of both worlds.