Words by Dionysis Nanos
For any fan of cars and motorsport out there that respects themselves and their hobby there’s no classier race than the 24 Hours Of Le Mans. Harsh driving conditions, the ultimate test of man and machine. So the fact that the world’s first ever supercar was birthed from Le Mans makes more than enough sense, to the minds of weird fans like us at least. The car in question, as you might have guessed by now, is indeed the Jaguar XKSS and yes i know what you're thinking, it isn’t an E-Type, partly because the XKSS was made from 1956 till February of 1957 (more on that later) while the E-Type was launched in 1961, and partly because the E-Type wasn't a chromed up race car like the XKSS. The two definitely look similar but where as the E-Type became the most well known symbol of Britain and it's industrial power, the XKSS is a piece of history that's almost never mentioned anymore. So what is this thing anyway?
The D-Type, Jag’s Le Mans winning car and the race version of what became the XKSS
In short, The XKSS is a Le Mans winning Jaguar D-Type with chrome bumpers, an extra door and an extra seat. In a sense, it's the predecessor to the XJR-15, the road going version of Jaguar's Le Mans winner from the 80's, the XJR-9. But the XKSS isn't a softened up version of a race car, for the simple reason that it is a race car. Back in the mid 50's Jaguar dominated at Le Mans with the D-Type, winning in 1955 and 1956. After the 1956 race though, company owner Sir William Lyons decide that it was time for Jaguar to withdraw its factory team for 1957, still offering support though for other teams that ran the D-Type, more specifically Ecurie Ecosse that won the race in 1957. But there was a problem. Jaguar had already developed more D-Type chassis that overnight became scrap since there was nowhere for them to be raced. So Sir William decided to recoup some of the money spent on the development of the chassis he'd make a limited production run of road-going D-Types that would primarily be sold in the US, where European sports cars were selling like crazy. And we're not talking about a different or softer car here. The XKSS is a D-Type. It’s the real deal. Imagine buying a Saturn V rocket and driving about in it. That’s what it would have felt like to drive one of these back in the 50s, when cars like the VW Beetle or the Citroen 2CV were the go-to cars for post-war Europe. Shocking…
The interior of the XKSS
There were some minor cosmetic differences with the D-Type. As mentioned above, there was an extra door and extra seat, while there were lashes of chrome seemingly everywhere, from the headlights and the windshield to the wheels and of course the bumpers. Also the trademark rear fin of the D-Type is missing from the XKSS, where it got replaced with a fabric roof that was fitted for protection against the elements. That's where the differences stop though, cause the rest of the car is identical to the D-Type. Under the bonnet, you'd find both the 3.4 L. straight 6 and the 4 speed manua as in the Le Mans monster. Also carried over from the race car were the innovative for the time all-round disc brakes and the front and rear suspension. All this meant that the XKSS had an unheard of, for the time, top speed of 144 mph and a redline of 5800 rpm, which can’t exactly be called slow especially for the time when this thing was new. Keep in mind that Elvis was young and well… alive, Vietnam was almost a decade away and sex was this thing that gave women a heavy stomach for 9 months at a time.
The XKSS raced bred engine
Originally, a production run of 25 was scheduled, all headed for the US market, but in February of 1957 disaster struck. A fire at Jaguar's Browns Lane plant destroyed 9 of the 25 cars which were, at that point, in various stages of completion. So the world only saw 16 with the most well known one being Steve McQueen's own personal car. The King Of Cool loved his XKSS so much that he allegedly almost lost his license, after acquiring many speeding tickets from perhaps enjoying his car a bit too much. He kept it for 10 years, eventually selling it in 1966, only to buy it back 10 years later.
But what happened to the 9 cars that got lost in the fire? 50 years after the accident happened, Jaguar announced that through its Classics program it would make the rest of the XKSSs. The cars were made exactly as they would have been manufactured in 1957, using the same plans and the same techniques. The first of the "lost" XKSSs was made in 2016, with each of the 9 scheduled cars costing more than a million pounds.
Steve McQueen with his horse Doc and of course his XKSS
What started then as a rational business decision, ended up being the world's first supercar. It had the performance, the handling and of course the looks to put competent racers to shame, and it proudly shines as an example of both Jaguar's racing pedigree and Britain's long lost industrial genius. Nowadays it remains quiet, sitting in the shadows letting other Big Cats get noticed, but it's always there, watching proudly as its legacy will never be forgotten. We salute you XKSS. You’re the first and you’re special…