APRIL 2017 WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COMPHOTOGRAPH: JOHN DOMINISBOAT LIFEA THOROUGHLY MODERN CLASSIC:
Vehicle: 1957/2017 Jaguar XKSS
Price: $1.25 million (base)
Powertrain: 3.4 liter straight six engine, 262hp/260lbf.ft/s
Performance: 0-60mph 5.2 seconds; top speed 144mphIn the 1950s, nine XKSS roadsters were destroyed in a factory
fire. Jaguar is about to make amends, writes Brett BerkD-Type rises from the ashes
he 1957 Jaguar XKSS was one of the
world’s first supercars. Essentially a road
going version of the brand’s Le Mans race
winning D-Type, only 16 examples of the
impossibly curvaceous two seater were manufactured.
When and if they come up for sale nowadays, they can
trade for upwards of $15 million.
Unbeknown to many people, an additional batch of
nine XKSSs was intended for the American market.
These cars were destroyed in a factory fire before
completion, and the series ended there. Now, Jaguar ’s
special heritage division, Jaguar Classic, will be
building these nine missing cars. Not replicas, but
actual brand new, old XKSSs. They will be stamped
with official vehicle
identification numbers,
and will, just like the
originals, come equipped
with potent race-bred
triple carbureted, straight
six cylinder engines,
four-wheel Dunlop
brakes, and lightweight
magnesium alloy bodies and wheels.
The process of reverse engineering an old car,
however, is not a simple matter. The original styling
bucks – wooden maquettes over which the metal body
panes were hand shaped – were lost in the fire, so
a meticulous 18 month process of researching original
drawings, laser scanning existing XKSSs, and
computer mapping the entire vehicle was required to
create new bucks. The nine “continuation” cars will be
hand built using these templates and an archaic
metalworking tool called the English wheel.
The interiors of the new old cars will be similarly
authentic, with exact replicas of vintage Smiths gauges,
brass switchgear, leather seat and dash-top surfaces,and wooden steering wheels. The only significant
changes will be the addition of some modern safety
equipment, particularly to allow the use of
contemporary gasoline. Some 10,000 hours will go into
building each car, and they will be priced accordingly.
This is not the first continuation vehicle that Jaguar
Classic has created. A few years back, it released a
limited run of six lightweight E-Type roadsters, again
intended to round out a series that had not been
completed (18 were intended, 12 were made). These
sold out instantly, as we expect the XKSSs will.
Is Jaguar likely to produce more such vehicles? With
decades of impossibly compelling models to choose
from, and a collector car market trending toward
highly original, low mileage vehicles with excellent
provenance, the answer seems likely to be yes.Steve McQueen’s
XKSS, bought for
$5,000, is now in the
Petersen Automotive
Museum in LA“ The brand
new, old
XKSSs will,
like the
originals,
come with
race-bred
straight six
engines”T
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