1954 Jaguar XK120 OTS

This matching-numbers 1954 LHD Jaguar XK120 OTS is nothing short of stunning and has to be one of the best available anywhere.

This model was delivered to Max Hoffman, a New York Jaguar distributor, in 1954 - the model’s final year of production. It seems that it then made its way to the sunny, salt-free roads of California, where it no doubt wowed the locals with its racy European looks and a price point that made it far better value than its Ferrari and Maserati contemporaries – cars with which it could more than hold its own on the performance, ride and handling fronts.

The Australian and British vendors of this very fine XK120, are, respectively (i) the owner of BMT Restoration, probably the world’s largest classic and vintage car restoration business and (ii) one of Britain’s foremost vintage and prestige car dealers.

So, two chaps who know their stuff. To say the least.

The last owner commissioned the vendors to source and buy a car worthy of the time and money he was prepared to spend on achieving a concours-quality restoration.

He challenged them to create a car that “looks like a brand new XK120 that’s been delivered 70 years late”.

As far as we can tell, that’s exactly what the vendor partners accomplished.

Sadly, the owner is no longer with us and consequently the car reverted to the temporary ownership of the vendors, who have spent an additional £18k having the car further finished, fettled, tweaked and perfected by marque experts Pat Twinley Engineering (PT Classics).

On the road the car is every bit as rewarding to drive as legend promises. The original Moss gearbox (the vendor reports it authenticated as being no: JL22743 on the Jaguar Heritage production record trace certificate) has new synchromesh on all gears and delivers satisfyingly smooth, positive and quiet changes. The famous Jaguar XK twin-cam engine is everything it should be and is, effectively, barely run in.

The vendors tell us that the total cost of this exceptional nut and bolt restoration is in the region of £145,000.

We believe them. In our humble opinion, it’s worth every penny.

The black paintwork, red leather upholstery and interior, and new black mohair hood are in very, very good order.

In general, the car’s condition is exceptional even for a vehicle with just 154 miles on the clock, let alone nearly 70 years under its belt.

The panels are free of any ripples, creases, dinks, dents, folds, lumps, bumps or dimples. The shut lines are as crisp and even as the day it left Browns Lane. Possibly more so.

The chrome work is shiny and bright. The chromed wire wheels with knock-off hubs are immaculate and are shod with matching, virtually unused Dunlop SP Sport tyres.

The new, black mohair hood fits and works well, stowing itself and its basic mechanism out of view behind the seats. Although the single-skin OTS hood was never designed for driving all day in a torrential downpour, it’s of sufficient quality to suggest that it would keep the worst of the weather off until you’d come up with a better idea than an afternoon’s motoring in a 70 year old roadster in the pouring rain in February.

There really is virtually nothing to raise a judgmental eyebrow or provide grounds for a tut or a shake of the head.

Yes, the rubber seal inside the boot lid is a tad loose and would benefit from being coaxed back into its channel. And perhaps the already lustrous paintwork could reach even loftier levels of shine if given a final machine polish.

But we’re grasping at straws here. We’re nit-picking. And we don’t like ourselves for it.

The inside of an XK120 OTS can be experienced in one of two ways.

Obviously, you can get behind the wheel and have a good look before taking it for a spin. Or, if you’ve got a dodgy hip, or possess a waistline that’s more suggestive of pies than salads, you’ll have to stand outside and look in. Either that or go on (i) a limbo dancing course to get your knees under the steering wheel and (ii) a diet to stop it digging into your ribs.

Either way, the condition inside is nothing short of remarkable, particularly when you consider that this is a car that first put its rubber on the road in 1954, when Frank Sinatra and Doris Day were in the charts, White Christmas and From Here To Eternity were in the cinema and Hancock’s Half Hour was on the radio.

The seats are comfortable, supportive and expertly upholstered in fine, pristine, red leather. Each seat has a scoop out of the back in order to accommodate the folding roof mechanism when the hood is stowed. Too cute.

The fabulous quality of the restoration workmanship is evident in everything from the leather door cappings and interior handles (there are no exterior handles) to the elegant leather storage pouches on the doors, the thick red carpeting and a tiny dashboard-mounted rear view mirror that would be too small for even the least image-conscious of budgerigars.

The Smiths instruments and dials are, we think, original - but, as with much else on this car, many of the original parts have been refurbished so thoroughly that they look like new. The instruments are in excellent condition and, of course, work as intended, as do all switches. The gear lever (and gaiter), steering wheel and handbrake are in similarly irreproachable condition, as is the inside of the roof.

Opening the boot reveals, unsurprisingly, an immaculate, red-carpeted interior. The compartment underneath contains a full-sized spare wheel, which is, of course, in fine condition.

Lift up the carpets anywhere and you’ll see…no rust or ungainliness anywhere whatsoever.

Faults? Well, the rubber cover on the clutch pedal has come off and is sitting in the footwell waiting for someone to put it back on again. That’ll take at least 10 seconds.

What else. Um…the card underneath the top of the dashboard and beneath the instrument cluster is slightly bowed in places. It may be that this is what it looked like when it left Browns Lane. It may not. Either way, should you choose to address this, we can’t imagine that it’ll be a big job. Not in the great scheme of things.

All in all, we think the interior of this car is a wonderfully evocative – and authentically evocative – place to be. The kind of place that would make you feel more than a bit special every time you sat behind the wheel.

We have a small confession to make. We photographed the undersides of the car after it had been driven a short distance on a wet and slightly muddy road.

Doh!

Hence, the photographs don’t quite convey the fact that this car’s underpinnings otherwise look as if they’ve never been outside. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this particular XK120 had spent most of its life lying on a sofa, not pressing on along Californian boulevards and one or two English country lanes.

Everything is straight, clean and as it should be. We didn’t find any corrosion or deterioration anywhere underneath. We didn’t expect to.

The view under the bonnet is just wonderful. The beautiful big shiny aluminium twin-cam 3.4 litre engine. The gleaming black manifolds. The gloriously retro – and entirely authentic – colorful braided cables and cords of an entirely new electrical system that faithfully replicates the original in every respect.

The engine has had a full and painstaking rebuild, including new pistons. It operates at 60 degrees, shows good oil pressure and, incredibly, is still being run in.

Everything has been replaced or refurbished, tweaked, tuned and fettled to ‘as new’ condition, including the gear box and running gear.

It first went to America in 1954. It went next to BMT restorations 65 or so years later where all the heavy lifting was done. Then it went to PT Classics for final fettling, finessing, tweaking and tuning.

We have a long and impressive list of work done by PT Classics which you can see in the photographs section. What we don’t have a service book full of stamps or a history file to cover its years as a US citizen.

Essentially we don’t need it. We’ve looked at this car thoroughly. We’ve driven it. It’s had such a thorough rebuild, its previous history is largely irrelevant. It’s the real deal.

For completeness, the numbers on the car (Chassis number : 675502; Engine number : F3001-8; Body number : F7778) match those of the Heritage Certificate – a ‘matching numbers’ car.

The vendor reports that the Jaguar is currently being registered in the UK, and the paperwork for this was sent to the DVLA last December for processing. So the car will come with a full UK registration (that was applied for BEFORE we left the EU).

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

And please be reassured, we’ve undertaken a full COVID-assessment and put into place strict control measures to enable us to safely facilitate a no-contact, socially distanced viewing that includes disinfection of the vehicle before and after your viewing.

However, if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’…

If you’re determined to wait until a better XK120 OTS comes along, you’d better be prepared to play a very long game indeed.

We think this is pretty much as good as you’ll find anywhere in the world – particularly when you consider that the original owner’s brief to the vendors was to find the best possible example for restoration and then restore it to ‘as new’ condition. That kind of speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

It’s not in our nature to over-praise any vehicle. And we’re not over-praising this one when we say that it is all kinds of fabulous and pretty much exceptional in every conceivable way.

Don’t take our word for it. Come and see for yourself.

But lay off the pies beforehand.

Just saying.

We’re confident to offer this car for auction with an estimate of £79,000 - £100,000.

Inspection is always encouraged (within Govt. guidelines of course), and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.