Equipment
3442/160hp, 4-speed, wide whitewalls, fender skirt, Lucas driving lights.
Condition
From the Academy of Art University Collection. Represented as matching numbers. Good, lightly aged paint and brightwork. Even gaps. Very lightly worn interior. Former AACA National Senior and Senior Grand National awards as well as three-time JCNA Class 2 National Champion, with a 100-point score in 2005. It's a special early 120 treated like it deserves.
Market commentary
Groundbreaking as the XK120 was, Jaguar didn't initially intend for it to be a production car. It was more a show piece for the new XK straight-six engine. But the attention and praise at the Earls Court show in 1948 persuaded Williams Lyons to build it, and the first 242 cars received aluminum bodywork before a switch to cheaper and easier steel in early 1950. These early alloy cars are worth well over double a standard steel roadster. Barrett-Jackson sold this one fresh from its concours restoration in 2001 for $172,800. It then aged a little bit but not much and sold for $319,000 at Pebble Beach in 2011. Again, its restoration is aged a little bit but not much today, certainly not as much as this drop in price would suggest. Despite so much movement elsewhere in the market, XK120 prices haven't done much, but this car still could have brought a lot close to 300 grand without being expensive.