Nine new examples of Jaguar’s fabled XKSS will be hand built by the newly renamed Jaguar Land Rover Classic operation to the exact specification as they appeared in 1957, replacing the cars lost due to the famous Browns Lane factory fire. The original cars were scheduled for export to the USA, but just 16 had been completed before disaster struck. Now 59 years later, Jaguar is going to build the nine “lost” XKSS sports cars for a select group of established collectors and customers.
“The XKSS occupies a unique place in Jaguar’s history,” said Tim Hannig, Director Jaguar Land Rover Classic, “and is a car coveted by collectors the world over for its exclusivity and unmistakable design. Jaguar Classic’s highly skilled team of engineers and technicians will draw on decades of knowledge to ensure each of the nine cars is completely authentic and crafted to the highest quality.
“Our continuation XKSS reaffirms our commitment to nurture the passion and enthusiasm for Jaguar’s illustrious past by offering exceptional cars, services, parts and experiences.”
Expertise gained during the construction of the Lightweight E-Type project will be transferred to the construction of the nine ultra-exclusive continuations. Each one will be hand-built at Jaguar’s new Experimental Shop in Warwick, with every car constructed to the same specifications as those first 16 made in 1957. Asking price is expected to be in excess of £1 million. For further details, please visit http://www.jaguar.co.uk/news/xkss-reborn.html
As the former owner of the real Steve McQueen XKSS for over 15 years before vending it to Robert Petersen I think it is a weak attempt to capitalize on the past glory of the company to produce any “replica, new confutation, tribute or other such convenient adjective ” of such a important part Jaguar history and becomes sacrilege along with being simply market pimping. They will never be original as the production tooling was destroyed in the Browns Lane fire in the original days.