LA SHOW - The great Jaguar fire in 1957 resulted in lost XKSS production, today, those lost cars are being built.

• Jaguar Classic reveals ‘new original’ XKSS to media at Petersen Museum in Los Angeles
• One-off car has been authentically produced to exact 1957 specification by Jaguar Land Rover Classic’s expert craftsmen
• Nine examples to be hand-built in the UK with deliveries to customers beginning in 2017

The first genuine Jaguar XKSS to be built in almost 60 years was today given its world debut presentation at the Petersen Museum, Los Angeles by Jaguar Classic.  

The stunning XKSS, finished in Sherwood Green paint, has been created by the Jaguar Classic engineering team ahead of the production of nine cars for delivery to customers across the globe in 2017.

Often referred to as the world’s first supercar, the XKSS was originally made by Jaguar as a road-going conversion of the Le Mans-winning D-type, which was built from 1954-1956.  

In 1957, nine cars earmarked for export to North America were lost in a fire at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory in the British Midlands; meaning just 16 examples of XKSS were built. 

Earlier this year Jaguar announced that its Classic division would build the nine ‘lost’ XKSS sports cars for a select group of established collectors and customers. The new one-off XKSS presented in Los Angeles is the summation of 18 months of research and will be used as a blueprint from which the nine continuation cars are built. 

The nine cars will be completely new, with period chassis numbers from the XKSS chassis log. All cars are now sold at a price in excess of £1million each.

The XKSS is the second continuation car to be created by Jaguar, following on from the six Lightweight E-types that were built in 2014. This project helped the team learn to engineer cars that are faithful to the specifications to which they were built in period, and this knowledge has been enhanced in creating the ‘new original’ XKSS.

The XKSS unveiled in Los Angeles is a period correct continuation, built using a combination of original drawings from Jaguar’s archive and modern technology.  The Jaguar Classic engineering team scanned several versions of the 1957 XKSS to help build a complete digital image of the car, from the body to chassis, and including all parts required.

The body of the XKSS is made from magnesium alloy, as it was in 1957, and because the original styling bucks do not exist, Jaguar Classic produced a new, bespoke styling buck based on the original bodies from the 1950s. The bodies of the nine new cars will be formed on this buck, using a traditional process called hand-wheeling.

Jaguar Classic’s expert engineers worked with the original frames and from there produced CAD to support build of the chassis. In partnership with the Classic team, frame maker Reynolds – famous for their 531 tubing – was briefed to craft bespoke new parts using imperial measurements, rather than metric. The frames are bronze welded in the same way as the period XKSS chassis tubing.

The continuation cars feature period specification four-wheel Dunlop disc brakes with a Plessey pump, and Dunlop tyres with riveted two-piece magnesium alloy wheels.

Under the bonnet, the XKSS is supplied with a 262hp 3.4-litre straight six-cylinder Jaguar D-type engine. The engine features completely new cast iron blocks, new cast cylinder heads and three Weber DC03 carburetors.

Inside, the ‘new original’ XKSS features perfect recreations of the original Smiths gauges.  Everything from the wood of the steering wheel, to the grain of the leather seats, through to the brass knobs on the XKSS dashboard, is precisely as it would have been in 1957.

Minor specification changes have been made only to improve driver and passenger safety. The fuel cell, for example, uses robust, modern materials to support throughput of modern fuels.

Customer vehicles will be hand-built beginning this year, and it is estimated that 10,000 man hours will go into building each of the new XKSS cars.

Kev Riches, Jaguar Classic Engineering Manager, said: “The XKSS is one of the most important cars in Jaguar’s history, and we are committed to making the ‘new original’ version absolutely faithful to the period car in every way.

“From the number, type and position of all the rivets used – there are more than 2,000 in total – to the Smiths gauges on the dashboard, everything is the same as the original cars, because that is the way it should be.”

Tim Hannig, Director of Jaguar Land Rover Classic, said: “The XKSS continuation programme underlines the world-class expertise we have at Jaguar Land Rover Classic.  We are committed to nurturing the passion and enthusiasm for Jaguar’s illustrious past by offering exceptional cars, services, parts and experiences.

“Jaguar Land Rover Classic is perfectly positioned to cater for this growing love for classics, with a new £7.5m global headquarters set to open in Coventry in 2017. We are looking forward to growing this business, supporting our existing customers and engaging with a whole new generation of global enthusiasts.”

Time for an all new Jensen, yes it is, and about time too.

Almost 80 years since the Jensen name appeared on cars, the famous marque returns with the opportunity to order the first officially sanctioned model in 13 years.

Marking the rebirth of the brand, the formation of the Jensen Group is the start of the next chapter in the Jensen story, following the collapse of the car manufacturer in 2002.

Spearheaded by industry stalwart Tim Hearley, the return allows enthusiasts to purchase an officially sanctioned car, the Jensen GT.

As the man responsible for the return of Jensen, and the force behind defending the Jensen trademark for almost four years, Tim Hearley, executive chairman of The Jensen Group, is delighted with the re-launch of the marque: “This represents the next chapter of Jensen and, as we look to the future, we want Jensen enthusiasts to help us celebrate as we unveil a completely new car and outline our plans for the future.”

The Jensen Group is currently engaged on a project to launch Interceptor 2 in 2016, which  may involve  collaboration  with  an  established  automotive  group. The  Jensen  GT will  fill the  gap between the last true Jensen, the Interceptor of 1976, and an  all-new, state-of-the-art car due to be revealed in 2016.

This new model, classed as Interceptor 2, will take design cues from the classic Interceptor and will advance the concept of the original grand tourer, to provide a thoroughly modern and exciting vehicle.

Despite several companies claiming to be the spiritual home of Jensen, the Jensen GT is the first new car to legitimately bear a Jensen badge in the more than 13 years, since the demise of the S-V8 in 2001.

This extremely limited edition will be built under an agreement between the Jensen Group and Jensen International Automotive (JIA), well known for their modified Interceptor R models. The Jensen GT will be available exclusively through JIA.

Lister to expand with new Multi Million pound supercar.

• Lister riding high on re-launch success with sales totalling over £3m in 12 months          
• Andrew & Lawrence Whittaker nominated for ‘Personal Achievement of the Year’ for their work with Lister at the International Historic Motoring Awards
• Investors being sought for exciting new company expansion programme
• Strategy to develop and launch all-new sports and Hypercar projects

Re-launched at the end of 2013, just at the turn of its 60^th anniversary year, The Lister Motor Company has enjoyed an unprecedented return to sports car manufacturing, rapidly taking orders for their exciting anniversary ‘Knobbly’ sports racing cars from customers keen to buy into the heritage of one the most historic and significant of all the British sports and racing car manufacturers.

In the past 12 months since Lister’s re-birth, the company has successfully sold nine of the limited run of its £350,000 ‘Knobbly’ anniversary cars generating an order book with a value of over £3million, whilst also establishing the ‘Brian Lister Trophy’ - awarded to the most successful competitor racing a Lister car in the historic racing scene. 

Furthermore, the father and son team behind the company’s re-launch, Lawrence and Andrew Whittaker, have also been nominated for the ‘Personal Achievement Award’ in the UK’s prestigious International Historic Motoring Awards.

Now, the management team has announced its desire to expand the Lister business into new and exciting product development, with the intention of launching a new, highly sophisticated Hypercar that will return Lister to the leading edge of low-volume sports car manufacturing in the UK as well as Asia and North America.

Lawrence Whittaker, Managing Director of Lister Cars, says: “Our aspiration has always been to return the Lister brand to the forefront of people’s minds. The ‘Knobbly’ project has firmly established that the Lister name still has enormous good will and we know we have a brand with a lot of marketable collateral attached to it.  

Over the coming years our ambitions are to create a world beating brand new Hypercar with a list price of somewhere in the region of  £2million. We are currently seeking external investors that have the desire to join us on what promises to be an incredible journey, because if we proceed with our ambitious plans, it is fundamental that the entire project is sufficiently resourced in order to deliver a serious, world-beating new product.”

As well as the significant international success achieved by the original Lister team in the 1950s, Lister retuned to the market in 1989, under the management of Laurence Pearce, who launched the Lister XJS 7.0 V12, selling 90 of the £115,000 cars. Pearce went on to build the Lister Storm Le Mans car, enjoying huge success in GT racing and building four 200mph Storm road cars at a retail price of £350,000.  

Brian Lister, the founder of the original company, has fully endorsed the recent re-launch of the business and remains an enthusiastic advisor to the new management team.