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The long wait of Jaguar lovers is finally over. Just recently, the first-ever genuine Jaguar XKSS to be made since 1957 has been unleashed at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.
Reports say that the one-off example is the work of the Jaguar Classic division and has been developed ahead of the production of nine examples that are to be built in the UK for delivery to customers next year.
The XKSS unveiled today will be utilized as a blueprint from which the nine continuation cars are created. Meanwhile, the nine is said to have period chassis numbers from the original XKSS chassis log and all are to be priced more than £1 million each.
According to Jaguar Classic, they spent 18 months researching how to create the XKSS continuation cars in line with the 1957 specification, though with a few minor changes to enhance driver and passenger safety, such as a fuel tank made of modern materials so it can accommodate newer types of fuel.
Some original design drawings were utilized as a basis for the revived model, and Jaguar Classic's engineering team also scanned a number of XKSS examples to create a digital image of the car, including all the needed parts.
As it was in 1957, the body of the continuation XKSS is made from magnesium alloy. However, since the original styling bucks are inexistent, Jaguar Classic created a new styling buck based on the original bodies from the 1950s. The bodies of the nine new cars will be formed on this buck utilizing a traditional hand-wheeling process.
The engineers worked with the original frames and from there created CAD to support the chassis' development. In collaboration with the Classic team, frame manufacturer Reynolds—popular for its 531 tubing—was instructed to craft bespoke new parts utilizing imperial measurements than metric.
On the cockpit are recreations of the original Smith gauges. From the wood of the steering wheel, the grain of leather seats to the brass knobs on the XKSS dashboard, everything is exactly as it would have been in 1957.
In a statement, Kev Richards, Jaguar Classic engineering manager, said that the XKSS is one of the most notable cars in Jaguar's history, and they are dedicated to making the 'new original' version faithful to the period car in every way.
He added that from the number, type and position of all the rivets used--there are over 2,000 in total—to the Smiths gauges on the dashboard, everything is the same as the original because that is the way it must be.
The XKSS is the second continuation car built by Jaguar Classic, following on from the six Lightweight E-Types created in 2014.
Image Source: schlegelmilch.com
