JAGUAR XK
XK120 OTS

Name: Jaguar XK XK120 OTS
Brand: Jaguar
Price: 90000 EUR
Availability: InStock

90.000 €

V.A.T. included

JAGUAR XK

XK120 OTS

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90.000 €

V.A.T. included

PRO

Condition

Second hand

Mileage

Gearbox

Manual

First registration

09/1954

Fuel

Petrol

Emission class

Route59 SRL ( 32 vehicles in stock ) 6530 Thuin

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Description

The XK120 was launched as an open two-seater or roadster (US) at the 1948 London Motor Show, as a test bed and show car for the new Jaguar XK engine. The show car was the first prototype, chassis number 670001. It was almost identical to the production cars, except for the straight windscreen pillars, which were curved on the production version. The roadster caused a sensation, persuading Jaguar's founder and design boss William Lyons to put it into production.

From 1948, the first 242 cars were built with a wood-framed, open 2-seater body with aluminium panels. In early 1950, production switched to an all-steel body, 51 kg (110 lb) heavier. The "120" in the name refers to the aluminium car's top speed of 120 mph (193 km/h) (faster with the windscreen removed), making it the fastest production car in the world at the time of its introduction. In 1949, the first production roadster, chassis number 670003, was delivered to Clark Gable.

The XK120 was eventually available in two open versions, first as an open two-seater described in the American market as the roadster (and designated OTS, for open two-seater, in America), then also as a convertible coupé (DHC) from 1953; and also as a closed coupé, or fixed head (FHC) from 1951.

On May 30, 1949, on the empty Ostend-Jabbeke highway in Belgium, an XK120 prototype timed by officials of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium achieved a reverse course average of 132.6 mph with the windshield replaced by a single small spray can and a cataloged alternate top gear, and 135 mph with a passenger-side tonneau cover in place. In 1950 and 1951, on a banked oval circuit in France, XK120 roadsters averaged over 100 mph for 24 hours and over 130 mph for one hour. In 1952, a fixed-head coupe broke numerous world speed and distance records by averaging 100 mph for a week.

Roadsters have also found success in racing and rallying.

The first roadsters, hand-built with aluminium bodies on ash frames mounted on modified Jaguar Mark V chassis, were built between late 1948 and early 1950. To meet demand, all subsequent XK120s were mass-produced with pressed steel bodies from the 1950 model year onwards. The doors, bonnet and boot lid were made of aluminium. The DHC and FHC versions, more luxurious than the roadsters, featured wind-up windows and wood veneer on the dashboard and door interior trim.

With its alloy cylinder head, hemispherical combustion chambers, inclined valves and twin side-draft SU carburettors, the 3.4-litre, double overhead camshaft, straight-six XK engine was relatively advanced for a mass-produced unit at the time. With a standard compression ratio of 8:1, it produced 160 bhp (119 kW) on 80-octane fuel. Most early cars were exported; a lower-compression 7:1 version, with reduced performance, was reserved for the British market, where post-war austerity measures limited buyers to 70-octane "Pool petrol". The Jaguar factory, which had access to 80-octane fuel, supplied the press with roadsters with the higher compression ratio. Journalists were then able to test the model's optimum performance in Belgium, on a long straight between Jabbeke and Ostend. The basic engine design of the XK, later modified into 3.8 and 4.2 litre versions, survived until the end of the 1980s.

All XK120s featured independent torsion bar front suspension, semi-elliptic leaf springs at the rear, recirculating ball steering, a telescopic steering column and 12-inch drum brakes all round, which were prone to fading.

The roadster's lightweight canvas top and removable side windows stowed out of sight behind the seats, and its barchetta-style doors had no external handles; instead, there was an internal pull-tab accessible through a flap in the side windows when weather equipment was in place. The windscreen could be removed to allow the fitting of aerodynamic windscreens.

This example has been fully restored and has not been driven since!

More info on: https://www.route59.be/all/jaguar-xk120-ots-3-4/

General information