Tuesday 9 November 2010

1950 Jaguar XK120 Roadster


We are very excited about one particular lot coming under the hammer at our next Fine Art and Antique Auction on Wednesday 15th December as we will be selling a fabulous 1950 Jaguar XK120 Roadster................


Jaguar introduced the XK120 Roadster at the London Motor Show in 1948 as their first post-war sports car.  "XK" refers to the new type of engine created by Jaguar and "120" refers to its top speed of 120mph - although it could go faster with the windscreen removed. 


This made it the world's fastest production car when it was launched.



The Roadster was the first type of XK120 to be produced, followed by the FHC - fixed head coupe in 1951 and the DHC - drophead coupe in 1953.  The Roadster's sidescreens and canvas top could be stored behind the seats and the streamlined car had no external door handles and could have the windscreen removed to allow aeroscreens to be fitted instead.

The car was a massive success winning races and breaking endurance records including being driven flat out for 24 hours (with stops for fuel, tyres and driver changeover) by Leslie Johnson and Stirling Moss in 1950 - the first production car to average over 100 mph for 24 hours.  

We believe that the model that we have coming up for auction was also raced by its owner and while it is clearly in need of restoration we still expect there to be fierce competition when it comes under the hammer. 

Fine Art and Antique Auction
Wednesday 15th December 10am

Viewing:
Saturday 11 December 10am-1pm
Tuesday 14th December 2-7pm

1 comment:

jagxks said...

Could you please tell me what was the V.I.N. or Chassis #. Thanks