This Might Be the Rarest Jaguar of All Time
A long lost Jaguar XK120 SE with bodywork penned by famed Italian styling house Pininfarina was presented at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance over the weekend.
With just one example produced, the XK120 SE by Pininfarina is thought to be the rarest Jaguar road car of all time. It was first delivered to one Max Hoffman in 1954, an Austrian-born importer of luxury European automobiles who was based in New York. It’s believed that Pininfarina rebodied the Jag at Hoffman’s request before presenting it at the 1955 Geneva Motor Show. Hoffman took delivery of the car shortly thereafter, however much of its history from that time is unknown.
The car was purchased in 1978 by a German man who planned to restore it, however he never got around to starting the project and decided to sell it. It was purchased by vintage car specialists Classic Motor Cars in 2015, which soon set to work on a thorough and accurate restoration. CMC notes that some of the parts were literally impossible to find, so they had remake the chrome work and bumpers by hand, relying on photographs for accuracy. Other smaller parts were scanned and then 3D printed.
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CMC says they completed a full restoration of the body panels, a full chassis repair and repaint, a full interior re-trim and a complete suspension overhaul. They also remade the rear window and window surrounds, remade the front and rear bumpers and rebuilt the 3.4-liter straight-six engine and a four-speed manual transmission. No expense was spared in the all-encompassing restoration, which took a staggering 6,725 man hours to complete.
“A great result! It was a privilege to take the cover off this long-lost Jaguar at one of the most important Concours in the world,” said CMC’s Peter Neumark. “The car was admired all day and we are delighted to be bringing a trophy home as a further testimony to the skills, dedication and attention to detail that we have in our business.”
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Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
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Great to see video footage of the Pebble Beach Tour ,with this car driving ,first time in many years. Looks like a stunning restoration of a unique car & congratulations to CMC on picking up a 2nd in class prize at Pebble Beach ! Just to comment that I don't believe that this car attended the Geneva Motor show in 1955. There is a photo of it in the Geneva show report in June 55 Road & Track magazine ,but that is a publicity press shot taken at the PF works & not taken at the show. Having examined 1955 Geneva show reports with photos & text in several other period magazines ( some French ,some English & American ) the Pininfarina stand had a Fiat 8V , a Lancia Aurelia & a Fiat 600 , each with special coachbuilt coupe bodywork. No photo of the Pininfarina XK at the 55 Geneva show ,or mention of it being there. Such a distinctive car would definitely have been mentioned / pictured had it been there. However , it is possible that Pininfarina had press photos of their XK ,which they gave to journalists ,which could explain inclusion in Road & Track .