JAGUAR

XK 120

The Jaguar XK 120 was designed in just a few months by Jaguar founder William Lyons and launched at the 1948 London Motor Show, where it caused an instant sensation. Conceived initially as a low-volume showcase for Jaguar's brand-new XK twin-cam engine, public demand was so overwhelming that Lyons was forced to put the car into full production. The "120" in the name referred to its 120 mph top speed, a figure that made the Jaguar XK 120 the fastest standard production car in the world, dramatically proven on the Jabbeke motorway in Belgium where a lightly modified example exceeded 132 mph. At its heart was the legendary 3.4-litre XK straight-six, a double-overhead-camshaft engine designed by William Heynes producing around 160 horsepower, a powerplant so advanced it would go on to power Jaguars for decades and win Le Mans. The first 242 examples of the Jaguar XK 120 wore hand-built aluminium bodies over an ash frame before Jaguar switched to pressed-steel construction to meet demand. The open two-seater roadster was joined by a fixed-head coupe in 1951 and an elegant drophead coupe in 1953. With its flowing, sculptural lines and the signature vertically ribbed grille that became a Jaguar trademark, the Jaguar XK 120 established the template for the C-Type, D-Type and the immortal E-Type. A total of 12,061 were built before the XK 140 took over in 1954.