Jaguar’s symbolic XK120, a sports car was manufactured from during the late and early 1950s. It succeeded the classic SS 100 whose manufacturing was stopped in 1940, soon after the 2nd World War began. The London Motor Show in 1948 saw the launch of the XK120. Soon after its introduction it became a rage and was able to set a new benchmark in car production.

The bodies of the initial models were handmade out of aluminum over ash frames. Jaguar had initially built only 240 of these cars, but the demand was so high that they were forced to get into mass production. These cars were made of steel with alloy doors and the bonnets as well as the trunk skin were made of alloy. Other prominent features were a torsion bar suspension and a windscreen that could be removed.

It has an extremely powerful 3.4 liter 6 straight-6 engine, which was famous as Jaguar’s XK engine. Even at that time the engine was highly sophisticated and advanced, considering it was meant for mass production. There also was an option for a low compression engine which was useful in case of low quality fuel. This same concept was used by Jaguar for its newer versions in the 1980s.

There is a very interesting story behind its name. It was called the XK120 as it could hit a maximum speed of 120 mph and when the windscreen was removed it sped even faster. It is incredible that even at that age they came out with such a monster!