Which Jaguar is this?

[DHE]

This has had us little confused on another forum, front wings/headlights look similar to the C Type, while the grill, bonnet and rest of the car look like an XK120. The pictures were taken in Monaco within the last week.

[Carsie]

XK120, but doubt the aficionados will be along shortly to tell you the full story

[slomax]

LOWDRAG?!

[jonnylayze]

It is an XK120 and it is a period mod. I believe that some of these were actually done at the factory. In styling terms it's a cross over between the standard Xk120 and the XK120 Competition 'C-Type'

[MDT]

was it fibreglass by any chance?

I would say it is a XK120 "reproduction" of some form

[lowdrag]

Sorry for not hearing you, it's my deafness after 40 years of topless driving The car has styling traces of an XKSS (chrome rings around headlights) and of course the C-type in the wings and the grille, but it is of course an XK120 roadster. This was not made at the factory, and Jaguar didn't sell any styling exercises or prototypes (except E2A to Roger Woodley) so has been modified later, and looking at the indicators quite a bit later too; It could be anywhere from 1960 on, but my money would be on much later than that, say the 80/90s.

[lowdrag]

MDT said:

was it fibreglass by any chance?

I would say it is a XK120 "reproduction" of some form

Don't think so, since it still carries the bumper bolting points. Of course it could be a modified Broomstick, but then who would go to the trouble of moulding new front wings, bonnet (louvres) etc. No, my money is on an original but modifed as in my post above.

[2slo]

Might just be a parking permit etc, but that looks a lot like a UK road tax disc on the n/s of the screen. Unlikely since its foreign registered.

[a8hex]

I remember seeing something about an XK120 with the headlights in the main body of the wings rather than where they are supposed to be. Sorry I don't have the time to dig it out at the moment.

[E31Shrew]

X prefix in Monaco is used on all 'antique' cars which means more than 25 years old. If that helps at all!

[DHE]

lowdrag said:

Sorry for not hearing you, it's my deafness after 40 years of topless driving The car has styling traces of an XKSS (chrome rings around headlights) and of course the C-type in the wings and the grille, but it is of course an XK120 roadster. This was not made at the factory, and Jaguar didn't sell any styling exercises or prototypes (except E2A to Roger Woodley) so has been modified later, and looking at the indicators quite a bit later too; It could be anywhere from 1960 on, but my money would be on much later than that, say the 80/90s.

Cheers for the info.

[RichB]

lowdrag said:

...so has been modified later, and looking at the indicators quite a bit later too; It could be anywhere from 1960 on, but my money would be on much later than that, say the 80/90s.

So Tony, in your opinion the opposite of what Jonny thinks?

jonnylayze said:

It is an XK120 and it is a period mod. I believe that some of these were actually done at the factory...

Either way a very interesting modified car... I like it.

[jonnylayze]

I may be wrong but I am sure I have seen these before and have seen references to it being a factory mod. My Jaguar books are at my brother's so I can't get hold of them at the moment.

Even if it was not a factory mod, it does appear to have been contemporary although to me it does not have the feel of the Barris modifications alluded to in the below link

http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/UYJaguarPebs.htm...

Edited by jonnylayze on Monday 29th August 21:59

[lowdrag]

RichB said:

lowdrag said:

...so has been modified later, and looking at the indicators quite a bit later too; It could be anywhere from 1960 on, but my money would be on much later than that, say the 80/90s.

So Tony, in your opinion the opposite of what Jonny thinks?

jonnylayze said:

It is an XK120 and it is a period mod. I believe that some of these were actually done at the factory...

Either way a very interesting modified car... I like it.

I stand to be corrected, but I've checked all my books on the subject and can find no reference anywhere to a Jaguar XK120/C-type special. Jaguar (remember this is post-war) were going hammer and tongs under the "export or die" effort, sending most cars to the USA, and had no spare capacity for small runs or specials apart from the racing department itself. The mods look well done, but not by Jaguar in my opinion. Where I may be wrong is the date of the work - that's just a guess.

[Carsie]

This isn't a factory mod at all but it did jog my memory about another 120 that had a front end modification.

The grey cells seem to recall it was Swiss (??) with smaller diameter headlamps that were embedded into the wings quite low down. I think it was silver.

Anyway - back to yours DHE, nice spot (sic), looks a bit like an Alfa doesn't it?; nice bit of patina as well.

Can't imagine a petrolheads like that would be far away/out of touch to tell us the full story but I think that Johhnylayze has it correctly nailed as the Daniel Shanahan's Jaguar XK-120

Edited by Carsie on Tuesday 30th August 13:56

[a8hex]

Carsie said:

Can't imagine a petrolheads like that would be far away/out of touch to tell us the full story but I think that Johhnylayze has it correctly nailed as the Daniel Shanahan's Jaguar XK-120

Edited by Carsie on Tuesday 30th August 13:56

it isn't listed on xkdata as far as I can see, at least not with the Monaco reg.

[jonnylayze]

a8hex said:

Carsie said:

Can't imagine a petrolheads like that would be far away/out of touch to tell us the full story but I think that Johhnylayze has it correctly nailed as the Daniel Shanahan's Jaguar XK-120

Edited by Carsie on Tuesday 30th August 13:56

it isn't listed on xkdata as far as I can see, at least not with the Monaco reg.

Here it is again

http://www.xkdata.com/cars/detail/?car=S674300&amp...

I am now moving away from my assertion that it was factory modified. However, it does seem to have been done early in its life - pre '61

[E31Shrew]

Slightly off topic, but wondered if any of you Jaguar gurus may know of the whereabouts of my Dads old XK120. When he had it in the late 1960s, it was hand painted orange [ Nice] but I seem to recall an article 10-12 years ago, which I am sure showed that it had been restored.
UK reg was RYB1 but that's really all I know.

As you were!

[Carsie]

Well ... you set me thinking and as the night was without company I powered up the old laptop and went hunting.

My first assertion was that there was a silver 120 that had been modified with small headlights set down in the wings;I can't find it anywhere but I'm sure it was Swiss or maybe it was done by Graber and that's throwing my memory, so over to you on that one.

The other finds are more interesting and certainly threw up some history that I didn't know.

First up -

Taken from http://www.rogerlearmonth.com/Roger_Learmonths_Web...



Then, next are these, the first of which appears to be incorrectly credited to George Barris if my reading of Joe Gertler is correct.





The Joe Gertler site is really interesting, it's been put together by his son. e.g I never knew that Donald Campbell's Bluebird was modified there.

There are some interesting comments

"Some very bizarre customs, though they might be considered horrendous today, won trophies at The World’s Motor Sports Shows in Washington D.C., such as the almost unrecognizable brand new, just off the docks, Jaguar XK 120 that Dad did for beer baron, Lewis Ebling."

"He made dreams come true, right there, to roar out of the Raceway Garage with some happy sportsman or race driver behind the wheel of something unique. There are many popular European sports cars here that were extensively modified."

"The Jaguar guys all wanted Dad to make their's special."

- thinks.... "modified"..... "supercharger"..... "racecar".....I think we might just have found the origins of your Monaco 120

The website is here :

http://www.memaerobilia.com/raceway.asp

Finally, although I have seen this previously I haven't seen a period photo

How about a Jag V12 into a 120?



Anyway - that's all folks - wooden hill beckons, have a good day tomorrow

[Twincam16]

I think it's the Max Hoffman car, from 1951. Description matches that in Anders Ditlev Clausager's 'Jaguar XK120 in detail'. The bodywork was further hacked about a bit (in period aerodynamic fins were added to the rear, later removed), and the car was last heard of in Denmark in 2000.