Description
The Jaguar XKSS occupies a singular position in the history of the motor car. Conceived in late 1956 following Jaguar's withdrawal from factory motorsport, it was born out of pragmatism as much as ambition. With a number of completed and partially completed D-Type chassis sitting unsold at the Browns Lane factory, Sir William Lyons authorised their conversion into road going sports cars for the lucrative North American market. The modifications were minimal but effective: the removal of the cockpit divider and the large dorsal fin behind the driver, the addition of a passenger door, a full width windscreen with wipers, rudimentary weather equipment, chrome bumpers, and repositioned rear light clusters. Beneath all of it, the XKSS retained the D-Type's stressed monocoque construction, its race bred suspension and braking, and the celebrated 3. 4-litre XK twin cam straight six fed by triple Weber carburettors, producing around 250 bhp and capable of reaching 60 mph from rest in a little over five seconds. By any measure, it was among the fastest road cars money could buy in 1957.
