Equipment
RHD. 3442/180hp, 4-speed, green wire wheels, Avon tires, single Brooklands aero screen, long range fuel tank, Stewart Warner water temp gauge added.
Condition
Part of the "Lost Jaguars Collection" of Thomas Hendricks, who intended to restore this Works-built 120 but never got to it. One of three built for potential use at Le Mans, just in case the new C-Type wasn''t ready (it was). Built with standard running gear and chassis but with ultra-lightweight aluminum bodies by Abbey Panels. Purchased by West Coast distributor Charles Hornburg along with LT2 to for and raced as "XK120 Silverstones." Phil Hill drove this chassis to a class win at Elkhart Lake in 1951, to a third place finish at Palm Springs, and to a fifth place finish at Pebble Beach in 1952. Also raced by John von Neumann. Later sold on and had a C-Type cylinder head fitted. Scruffy but straight and complete alloy body, although trim is missing throughout. Interior is almost completely gone. Oxidized and dirty underneath. Cobwebs still in the wheel spokes. It needs everything, but it deserves everything.
Market commentary
It takes some explaining to see why this car, which is a basket case condition-wise, sold for over four times as much as a regular XK 120 roadster in concours condition would. But not a whole lot. There were only ever just three of these "LT" cars and just two exist, including this one. That makes it just as rare as a C-Type Lightweight, or eight times as rare as an XKSS, so this really was a possibly once in a lifetime buying opportunity for serious Jag collectors. Combine that with the factory motorsports connection and the US race history, and this price begins to make a lot of sense. Let''s hope we see it finally restored and back on the race grid in a few years'' time.