1953 Jaguar XK120

Stored in our Aiken, South Carolina climate-controlled showroom. To see more pictures, video, information, and our full inventory, visit us online at www.carcaveusa.com or call us at (803) 262 4742!

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Highlights

Barn-find condition

Low miles

Same owner the past 50 years

Overview

The United Kingdom after WWII was desolate, with many cities leveled by German firebombing. In factories that once built machines of war, workers retooled for the return of the British auto industry. Over in Coventry, the newly minted Jaguar brand was putting its final touches on a machine that they had been dreaming of while on firewatch duty during the German Blitzkrieg: the Jaguar XK120.

Its frame came from the Mark V luxury cars before being thoroughly retooled to fit under a long, low, and wide two-door sports car silhouette. The engine, one that would go on to power just about every contemporary Jag in the 20th century, was developed with dual-overhead cams in a time period where simple flathead engines were still the standard – some 50 years before the technology became commonplace. Jag’s goal was to build something that could carry them for decades with few revisions, so the forward-looking design pushed engine technology with a powerplant that lasted them until the 1990s. The XK120, the first car to utilize this 3.4L straight-six, debuted in 1948 as the world’s fastest car with its 120mph-plus top speed – thus the name. The XK120 defined British sports cars before their eventual takeover in the 1960s as elegant exercises in engineering.

This particular 1953 XK120 roadster is believed to be an original US-market car, sporting its high-output 9:1 compression “Special Equipment” XK engine and other options – such as the dual exhaust and wire wheels. This is also a numbers-matching car, with engine block, cylinder head, chassis, and body numbers all aligning with the info tag. The story is a classic one, it was purchased as a project by the owner’s father decades ago, sometime in the 1970s. Shortly afterwards, he passed after starting disassembly of the trim, and the vehicle has sat since. It was running and driving prior to tear-down, with the current owner recalling her first ride-along in the Jag with her father back when he first purchased it.

See photos, but the only major rust is in the trunk corners on the driver’s side. Otherwise, the body is straight and rot-free, mostly carrying surface rust. The chassis is in similarly rot-free condition, with only minor surface rust on the frame rails and body mounts. Overall state of the vehicle is in good condition, not perfectly preserved, but more in a state of patina over degradation.

The body and chassis are straight, too. This XK120 is mostly complete, the body trim — such as the headlights, bumpers, tail light, turn signal, trunk and door handles — has been accounted for but the windshield frame appears to be incomplete. The vertical posts for the outer edges and center of the windshield are present, but not the complete trim that surrounds the glass itself. There’s only two pieces of that window frame trim, see photos. However, an NOS soft top is included (ordered from the Sears catalog!), and there are acrylic side windows that go with the frames for the half-door windows. This, ostensibly, helps keep weather out of the car with the soft top, but rare to have them included.

We are working on a final inventory of spare parts, with photos, but contact us with any questions.

Specs

3,400cc inline-six

Dual SU carbs

Four-speed manual

Double-wishbone front suspension

Leaf sprung solid-axle rear suspension

Roadster body style, with soft top and half-doors