1964 Jaguar XKSS Recreation – Classified of the Week

Replica cars get a bit of a bad rap, and usually with good reason. Think of a four-wheeled replica and you can be forgiven for arriving at the mental image of a 1993 Escort with an ill-fitting Cosworth body-kit fighting fruitlessly against the ear splitting clatter of a tired CVH engine. Or you might think of *insert any BMW here* with needless M badges on it. That kind of thing. Yeah, the automotive replica is, by the measure of many who create them, something of an unappealing prospect. But don’t let those examples ruin it for you. Some replicas, like this stunning 1964 Jaguar XKSS are pure, they’re exciting and they’re deserving of your attention and money. Plus, they’re often the only way us mere mortals will ever get close to owning whatever car is being replicated. A real XKSS for example, is in the millions. This one? £74,000. Pocket change by comparison.

The Jaguar XKSS was launched in 1957 as a road-going version of the legendary D-Type, and Jaguar had high hopes for it. However, the car was ill-fated from the off. Jaguar planned to build 25 XKSS cars, and did indeed create 16. However, the remaining nine were all in the Browns Lane plant when the building caught fire on the 12th of February 1957. All were destroyed, and in the wake of the disaster, Jaguar didn’t make any attempt to rebuild them (well, they did, but not until 2016). This of course made the already rare XKSS even rarer.

Rarity creates demand. Hence, over the years various operations have appeared, each offering ‘recreations’ of the XKSS. Some, like the car here that was built by Westlake Engineering in 1991, were better than others. This car, which is registered as a 1964 car thanks to it’s ‘of period’ Jaguar underpinnings, is a wonderful take on the XKSS. The lines are right, the details look to be spot on (we’re a sucker for an exposed rivet or five hundred) and power comes from a 3.8 straight-six Jaguar engine breathing through a trio of 45 DCOE Weber carbs. Make no mistake, it might not have been an XKSS when it was new, but this car lacks none of the thrill or excitement.

It’s also a bargain, relatively speaking. Find a real XKSS for sale and you’ll need seven, if not eight figures in order to take it home. And then what? Can you honestly say you would use it with conviction and spirit? Would you work it through the gears, would you ensure that every degree of opening was exploited on the throttle? No, of course you wouldn’t. Taking it out would put the fear of god into you. That’s why this recreation is better. It’s £74,000, and while that’s still a lot of money, it’s not so expensive that you would be scared of it. Hell, you might even feel brave enough to take it on track.

Snobs and people who can’t start a sentence without saying “actually” might look down on this car, but you can bet your bottom dollar they don’t have an XKSS – real or otherwise – sitting at home. Instead, they probably drive a Mondeo and work in accounts. They certainly won’t ever be having as much fun as you, as you scream your way through the revs in your perfectly proportioned XKSS tribute.