• Faithful homage to the iconic XKSS
• Period-correct features
• Superb build quality
• Built over 3 years by marque expert
• Stunning condition
The XKSS is one of the most iconic cars ever built, extremely rare, highly coveted by collectors and hugely valuable as a result, and of course a favourite of the King of Cool Steve McQueen. So it is remarkable to think that it didn’t evolve from the drawing board in the conventional way, but as a solution to a stock of unsold D-Types following Jaguar's withdrawal from racing after the 1956 season.
The inspired solution was simply to convert these race cars to road cars, and make them user-friendly by removing the distinctive tail fin and adding a full-width windscreen, passenger door, folding hood, luggage rack and bumpers and the result was one the finest cars ever built; a subtle combination of road car and race car, and versatile enough to be used as both.
It was ironic too that just sixteen cars had been converted to XKSS, when the infamous fire at Jaguar’s Brown’s Lane factory destroyed the remaining nine unsold D-Types and the ‘problem’ was solved. It was these nine chassis numbers that Jaguar recently revived for a limited edition of XKSS continuation cars. Such was the demand that all nine were sold out immediately, despite the reported price tag of £1. 5m.
Other recreations have been built over the intervening years, most notably by companies like Lynx and Proteus, while
this car was built for the current owner by the marque experts Tester Engineering over a three-year period, starting in 2015. Jim Tester has been involved in the restoration and race preparation of competition Jaguars for four decades, and was largely credited with the re-discovery of the Ecurie Ecosse works D-Type XKD 604 in the mid1980s.
The car is therefore expertly constructed to a very high standard and combines as many period-correct features as possible, from 3. 4 litre dry sump engine and triple 45 DCOE carburettors, with more modern innovations, like independent rear suspension as favoured by Lynx.
Finished in what many consider the best colour combination of Gloss Black with Red Leather, this car remains in superb condition and is ‘as new’ having completed only shakedown miles since forming part of a small collection of Jaguars, on its completion in 2018.