The Jaguar XK120 really is the quintessential British sports car – elegant, pretty, powerful comfortable, and supremely desirable. Perhaps the most desirable of all is the spec you see before you, a genuine Drophead Coupe presented in the colour scheme it left the factory with back in 1954 – cream paint, red interior, black roof. And this lovely example, beautifully presented inside and out and with many thousands spent, has a few tales to tell.

The history file reveals a life well-lived in the south-west, having been registered to the Ferndale Private Hotel in Torquay in the 1960s. When its then-owner passed away in the late-1970s, the Jaguar spent around a decade in the now-defunct Automobilia Motor Museum in St Stephens, Cornwall.

The car was in a part-restored state at that point; come the early 2000s, it was acquired by an enthusiast in Truro who was keen to make a thorough job of restoring the XK120 to correct specifications – thankfully acquiring a large number of original parts along with the car. A change of plans saw him selling it as ‘complete but unfinished’ in 2009; the next owner then handed it to Old School Engineering in Wales with a brief to fully restore it to factory specification with no modern upgrades.

This work was done across 2011/12 (an invoice for £23,000 painstakingly details the work, including a body resto and bare-metal repaint, interior retrim, new roof and full chassis overhaul) and then the final chapter in the story – so far – commenced in 2013 when the current London-based owner bought it at auction. And from that point on, there’s a huge amount of invoices detailing the sizeable sums he’s spent to improve it yet further: the first was to spend £1700 on wheel cylinders and ball joints as well as rebuilding the suspension and brakes and tuning the carbs, before employing the services of the Jaguar specialist WinSpeed Motorsport Ltd (WSM).

The first visit to WSM in 2013 saw the Jaguar treated to a new exhaust system, full engine tune, a battery cut-off switch, work to the rear brakes and various other things, costing £2800. The following year, an impressive £14,100 was spent on a short engine rebuild along with uprated fast-road cylinder head, followed by another £2800 on rebuilding the gauges and assorted maintenance.

Fast-forward to 2018 and a further £3300 was spent at WSM to overhaul the fuelling system, replace the dampers and ball joints and various bushes. Adding up all these bills keenly demonstrates the no-expense-spared manner in which this car has been kept, and today it presents as one of the most remarkable – and remarkably attractive – examples on the market today.

The interior of this XK120 is a thoroughly pleasant place to be, with the gorgeous crazed patina to the original dash wood being a particular highlight. 

The seats have been tastefully retrimmed in the correct red hide, complemented by red doorcards, carpets and rear shelf, all of which is in very good condition indeed. The instrumentation is working correctly (the gauges having been rebuilt), and so is all of the switchgear. A period Motorola push-button radio is fitted with hidden speakers mounted in the underside of the rear shelf.

Inside the boot we find everything just as neatly finished as the rest of the interior; the load bay has a matching carpet, and lifting it up reveals underlay which looks very fresh. The lower shelf houses a matching wire wheel, and there’s also a bag containing a tool roll, jack, and the mallet and removal tools for the wheel spinners.

This was evidently a thorough and sympathetic restoration, as the presentation of this Jaguar is very pleasing indeed. Every panel sits straight and true with even gaps, and the Cream paint (which was called Old English White on later XKs) has a beautiful finish. And this sublime body is adorned with all the correct details: all of the chrome trim is lovely, with key items such as the front bumper and taillight plinths having been replaced.

The roof is a quality item, fixing and stowing as it should and being very easy to operate. The wire wheels are finished in white rather than chrome, which gives the car a stylish profile; they’re all in great condition and fitted with matching Vredestein Sprint Classic tyres.

Given the huge amount of money that’s been spent on refreshing the running gear of this Jaguar, you’d expect it to be a pretty formidable machine – and you’d be right. With the owner having spent over £14,000 on rebuilding the engine and upgrading the head to fast-road spec, it’s all clean as a whistle and running in fine fettle.

The engine fires willingly and settles into a calm idle, and pulls with impressive surety through the rev range; an accelerating XK120 is always a pleasing sound, and with its throaty new exhaust system this big cat is in robust voice. The gearshift is slick, the brakes are strong, and the ride really is impressive – XKs can be a bit rambunctious over bumps, but this car has evidently been sorted and maintained by people in the know, as it’s extremely supple and comfortable with no unwelcome noises. A thoroughly charming XK120 to drive.

The appeal of an XK120 in 2022 is clear. While there’s always been an arms-race among manufacturers to claim the biggest numbers, the highest horsepower figures, the greatest top speed, there’s a select list of all-time greats which will forever be regarded as legends. The XK120 is one such creation. The fastest car in the world when it was launched? That’s kudos which will never erode. 

All XK120s are special, but this one is perhaps more special than most. Its history is fascinating, and made all the better for the fact that it’s all clearly documented. A lot of money has been spent to restore it, and it’s all been spent on the right things by the right people – as such, the finish throughout is simply wonderful and it’s a highly pleasing car to drive.