Jaguar XK120

The Jaguar XK120 was a sports car made by Jaguar from 1948 to 1954 and named for the 120 miles per hour top speed claimed for the aluminium-bodied car. It was launched as an open two-seater at the 1948 London Motor Show as a show car and test bed for the new twin-cam XK engine designed under chief engineer William Heynes, and the reaction persuaded founder William Lyons to put it into production. The 3.4-litre straight-six produced 160 bhp, and the car was the fastest production car in the world in its time. Fixed head and drophead coupe bodies followed in 1951 and 1953, and the first 242 cars had aluminium bodies on ash frames before production moved to steel. It was successful in racing and rallying and developed into the XK140 and XK150.