Phoenix from the Ashes?

In late March, around the time of the New York Auto Show, Jaguar made the surprising announcement that it would be constructing nine XKSS “continuation cars” to replace or carry on the legacy of those lost in Jaguar’s famed factory fire of 1957. The announcement stated, “Now 59 years later, Jaguar is going to build the nine ‘lost’ XKSS sports cars for a select group of established collectors and customers… Every car will be constructed to the same specifications as those first 16 made in 1957—every aspect fully certified by Jaguar. The price will be in excess of £1 million.” Wow, a new, original XKSS would be something…or would it?

To appreciate the potential importance of this fully, it’s necessary to roll the time machine back to the late fall of 1956. After a number of years where the D-Type literally wiped up everything in its path, Jaguar announced on October 13, that it was withdrawing from competition as a manufacturer. The D-Type was getting long in the tooth and new projects like the E-Type were on the horizon, but there was just one problem…they had scads of surplus D-Type chassis (30 of them!) laying around. Interestingly, the solution to this overabundance of cats came from America, in the form of one Briggs Cunningham. Cunningham wanted to campaign the