Jaguar XK120 SE Drophead Coupe

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Jaguar's first post-war sports car, the XK120 roadster was conceived and designed in a matter of months, primarily to act as a showcase for the marque's new XK engine.

Shown at the 1948 Earls Court Motorshow, it caused such a sensation that William Lyons was forced to put it into production right away. The first cars had handbuilt aluminium bodies on an ash frame, but by 1950 a more mass production version with a pressed steel body with alloy doors, bonnet and boot had been developed. A fixed head version was launched in 1951, followed by a drophead in 1953.

Power came from the now legendary XK twin-overhead cam 3.4-litre straight-six engine, developing 160bhp and giving the car a genuine 120mph top speed, making it the fastest production car of its day – hence the XK120 name. In 1952 Stirling Moss and three other drivers famously drove a virtually standard XK120 around the banked track at Montlhery for seven days and nights on end, clocking up an average speed of 100.31mph before driving the car back to London with no problems whatsoever.

Just 12,780 XK120s were produced in total, the vast majority in left-hand drive, of which just 1,767 were dropheads, and good ones are increasingly sought after today.

This stunning drophead is definitely one of the good ones. As the accompanying Heritage Certificate confirms, it was produced in May 1953 for the booming American market and was sold new by the Hornburg dealership in Los Angeles to first owner Gordon Lee of Denver, Colorado. Not much is known of the subsequent history of the car but it returned to these shores in March 2003.

The vendor bought it as a restoration project in 2005 to keep him busy in his retirement – although he was never quite able to retire fully from the transport business that had taken him a lifetime to build up so the restoration took somewhat longer than envisaged. As you can see, virtually every part of the car has been restored or renewed as necessary in a total nut-and-bolt rebuild that cost many thousands of pounds over almost 10 years, much of the work being farmed out to professionals while the vendor undertook the assembly.

The engine has been fully rebuilt and the car has been uprated with front disc brakes to make it more suited to modern traffic conditions, although it remains in otherwise largely correct and original specification. The interior has been retrimmed in striking two-tone red and caramel leather, with a highly polished walnut dash and a new mohair hood.

Now in superb condition throughout, it sounded wonderful as we manoeuvred it for these pictures, with a notably sweet engine and a rousing growl from the twin stainless steel exhausts. Due to illness the car has been barely used since the restoration was completed and will doubtless benefit from a period of careful running in before the performance is exploited to the full. Currently in the process of being registered with the DVLA for UK road use, it is just the kind of toy that any enthusiast would love to have in his garage.

As snug as a fixed-head, more practical than a roadster and much rarer than both, the drophead is to many the most desirable XK120 of all. A real labour of love, this beautiful example could not be easily replicated at the guide price suggested today.

PS: This car has now been UK registered and has the number 508 UYK