Torque Autos December 2016
5
THE ‘NEW ORIGINAL’:
JAGUAR XKSS MAKES
WORLD DEBUT IN LOS
ANGELES
he body of the XKSS is made from
magnesium alloy, as it was in 1957, and
because the original styling bucks do not
exist, Jaguar Classic produced a new, be‐
spoke styling buck based on the original
bodies from the 1950s. he bodies of the
nine new cars will be formed on this
buck, using a traditional process called
hand-wheeling.
Jaguar as a road-going conversion of the
Le Mans-winning D-type, which was
built from 1954-1956. In 1957, nine cars
earmarked for export to North America
were lost in a ire at Jaguar's Browns
Lane factory in the British Midlands;
meaning just 16 examples of XKSS were
built.
Earlier this year Jaguar announced that
its Classic division would build the nine
'lost' XKSS sports cars for a select group
of established collectors and customers.
he new one-off XKSS presented in Los
Angeles is the summation of 18 months
of research and will be used as a
blueprint from which the nine continua‐
tion cars are built.
at a price in excess of £1million each.
he XKSS is the second continuation car
to be created by Jaguar, following on
from the six Lightweight E-types that
were built in 2014. his project helped
the team learn to engineer cars that are
faithful to the speciications to which
they were built in period, and this
knowledge has been enhanced in creat‐
ing the 'new original' XKSS.
he XKSS unveiled in Los Angeles is a
period correct continuation, built using
a combination of original drawings from
Jaguar's archive and modern technology.
he Jaguar Classic engineering team
scanned several versions of the 1957
XKSS to help build a complete digital
Jaguar Classic's expert engineers worked
with the original frames and from there
produced CAD to support build of the
chassis. In partnership with the Classic
team, frame maker Reynolds - famous
for their 531 tubing - was briefed to crat
bespoke new parts using imperial mea‐
surements, rather than metric. he
frames are bronze welded in the same
way as the period XKSS chassis tubing.
he continuation cars feature period
speciication four-wheel Dunlop disc
brakes with a Plessey pump, and Dunlop
tyres with riveted two-piece magnesium
alloy wheels.
Under the bonnet, the XKSS is supplied
with a 262hp 3.4-litre straight six-cylin‐
der Jaguar D-type engine. he engine
features completely new cast iron blocks,
new cast cylinder heads and three Weber
DC03 carburetors.
Inside, the 'new original' XKSS features
perfect recreations of the original Smiths
gauges. Everything from the wood of the
steering wheel, to the grain of the leather
seats, through to the brass knobs on the
XKSS dashboard, is precisely as it would
have been in 1957.
Minor speciication changes have been
made only to improve driver and passen‐
ger safety. he fuel cell, for example, uses
robust, modern materials to support
throughput of modern fuels.
he nine cars will be completely new,
with period chassis numbers from the
XKSS chassis log. All cars are now sold
image of the car, from the body to chas‐
sis, and including all parts required.
Customer vehicles will be hand-built be‐
ginning this year, and it is estimated that
10,000 man hours will go into building
each of the new XKSS cars.
Kev Riches, Jaguar Classic Engineering
Manager, said: "he XKSS is one of the
most important cars in Jaguar's history,
and we are committed to making the 'new
original' version absolutely faithful to the
period car in every way.
"From the number, type and position of all
the rivets used - there are more than 2,000
in total - to the Smiths gauges on the
dashboard, everything is the same as the
original cars, because that is the way it
should be."
Tim Hannig, Director of Jaguar Land
Rover Classic, said: "he XKSS continu‐
ation programme underlines the worldclass expertise we have at Jaguar Land
Rover Classic. We are committed to nur‐
turing the passion and enthusiasm for
Jaguar's illustrious past by offering excep‐
t i on al c ar s , s e r v i c e s , p ar t s an d
experiences.
"Jaguar Land Rover Classic is perfectly
positioned to cater for this growing love
for classics, with a new £7.5m global
headquarters set to open in Coventry in
2017. We are looking forward to growing
this business, supporting our existing cus‐
tomers and engaging with a whole new
generation of global enthusiasts."