The Gentleman Magazine Issue 15 | June 2019 | Page 32

JAGUAR CLASSIC CREATES TAILOR-MADE XK120 FOR MALE MODEL DAVID GANDY Jaguar Classic has completed a bespoke XK120 sports car restoration commissioned by renowned British male model and life-long Jaguar enthusiast David Gandy. The 11-month project, which was a close collaboration between David Gandy and Jaguar Classic’s experts at its Classic Works facility in Warwickshire, took 2,700 hours to complete. Following a brief to make it race-ready for classic motorsport events such as the Jaguar Classic Challenge, the car’s specification is inspired by the original XK120 Lightweight. David Gandy, said: “Having driven a Jaguar XK120 at the Mille Miglia in 2013 and 2014, I knew that I wanted to own one of these incredibly special cars. The team at Jaguar Classic have done such a remarkable job engineering this car and executing everything that I asked for and it was amazing to have such an in-depth involvement in its creation.” Jaguar Classic’s dedicated sourcing team tracked-down a suitable 1954 base car in California, US, and has retained as much of the original car as possible. The in-line six-cylinder unit was meticulously rebuilt over five and a half months, with the final objective to use the car for racing. The result is a performance upgrade from the original 180bhp output to 225bhp and enhanced durability for higher speeds, with items like the core plugs featuring steel bracing so they don’t dislodge during high-performance driving. An all-new, upgraded exhaust system features dual pipes instead of the usual single pipe. 32 | The Gentleman Magazine “Powered by , Securing the Internet of Things”