'Super Rare' Jaguar to become UK's most expensive car
It is this original 1957 model that is going to auction in March 2017 for the first public auction of an XKSS model in over a decade. There is expected to be an inevitably fierce bidding war between super-rich prestige vehicle collectors from around the world, each one desperate to get their hands on this 'super rare' classic car.
Originally announced back in 1956, Jaguar made it known that they were looking to take a step back from motor racing and focus on building a series of high-quality production cars. They chose to base the XKSS model on the Le Mans-winning D-type and announced a total run of just 25 units.
The performance from this vehicle was incredible for its time - it could hit 50mph from a standing start in just 5.2 seconds and reach an overall top speed of 149mph.
Only one XKSS actually made it out of the factory, however - a fire tore through the Jaguar Browns Lane plant in Coventry and destroyed nine other unfinished models. The one that made it out had been finished in time and delivered to a customer in Montreal, Canada.
Gooding & Co, the auction house in Florida that has been tasked with the sale of this one surviving XKSS, has valued the vehicle at between $16million and $18million (£13.5million) which would make it the most expensive British road car in history and one of the most valuable ever sold to the public.
The auction house added that this XKSS is among the “very best examples” of the road-going version of the D-Type, which is “one of the most successful and important models in the history of endurance racing”.