Yahoo Autos An Incredibly Rare Jaguar XKSS Is Going to Auction Next Month
For around $1.5 million, Jaguar will build you a brand-new XKSS built to the exact specifications of the 1957 original. That's all well and good, but what if you want one of the 16 surviving originals? Well, we've got good news because Gooding & Company will auction the one pictured above at its Amelia Island event next month.
This is a big deal in the collector-car world because an XKSS hasn't come up for public auction since 2005 at Gooding & Co's Pebble Beach event. That example sold for a little under $2 million, but thanks to appreciation, this one is estimated to go for $16 to $18 million.
So what makes the XKSS so special? Well, the XKSS is a road car that was based on the D-Type race car that won Le Mans three times in a row. The D-Type is arguably Jaguar's most greatest race car ever. It came with a 3.4-liter version of Jaguar's legendary XK straight-six, which produced around 250 horsepower in the XKSS. Road & Track tested one back in August 1957, and it recorded a 0-60 mph sprint of 5.2 seconds and a 149-mph top speed.
Originally, Jaguar intended to convert 25 unsold D-Type Race cars into XKSS road cars, but only 16 were completed before the automaker's factory burned down. Jaguar is now building the remaining nine as a continuation series.
This example was raced by its first two owners in Canada until 1961, before ending up in various collector's hands. At some point, it was restored to concours-condition and it's been refinished in a very dark shade of green, rather than its original British Racing Green.
Considering XKSSes never come up for sale, you can expect bidding will be hot for this one. It wouldn't even be shocking to exceed its estimated sale price.
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