Ultra-rare Jaguar XKSS set to sell at London auction for £11MILLION
by Rob Hull · Mail Online'Vanishingly rare, utterly beautiful, and with blistering performance.'
Those are the words used by classic car experts when describing a 'rare and truly iconic' 1957 Jaguar XKSS that will be sold at a London auction early next month.
It is expected to generate bids in the region of £9million to £11million when it goes under the hammer at a special sale in the capital on 2 November.
But while it has been dubbed 'one of the most desirable British sports car ever made,' even its higher estimate will pale in comparison to the prices paid for other UK-made motors that have gone to the block in recent years.
In fact, six other British models have sold for more than £11million - and we'll show you all of them...
When it comes to collectible British sports cars from yesteryear, it arguably doesn't get more desirable than the XKSS.
The limited-edition model was born of 16 D-Type racing chassis that were converted to road-legal two-seaters primarily for the then-lucrative US market in 1957, having been made available after Jaguar took the decision to withdraw from racing.
However, tragedy struck on 12 February 1957 when a fire broke out at the company's Browns Lane factory in Coventry, destroying the nine unsold motors.
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In March 2016, Jaguar took the bold move to complete the 25 scheduled XKSS road cars by hand-building to order the outstanding chassis.
Each one was remanufactured to the exacting original specification and assigned with the chassis number of the destroyed vehicles, though the nine - each priced to sell for more than £1million - were all given the tag line 'continuation' cars.
This 1957 example is one of the surviving 16 originals, which ultimately makes it far more valuable than the latter creations.
RM Sotheby’s, which is responsible for finding a new keeper for chassis number 'XKD 540', refers to it as an 'exceptional high-performance machine little changed from the world-beating D-Type racing variant that conquered the 24 Hours of Le Mans no fewer than three times'.
While many XKSS models lived their lives as road cars, this particular example also boasts a storied racing history including competitive entries in both the United Kingdom and Australia.
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It is one of just two XKSSs to retain its D-Type competition XKD chassis number and was kept by Jaguar until April 1957, before being returned to the manufacturer for conversion to full XKSS specification in October 1958.
At that time it was upgraded from 3.4 to 3.8-litre specification by the Jaguar factory in 1960.
On leaving Browns Lane, the car was finished in the classic Jaguar combination of British Racing Green over a green suede leather interior.
This XKSS was sold to Jack Browning in 1959 and subsequently went to Australia in 1962, where it was raced locally.
Following its time in the Antipodes, the car was purchased in 1972 by noted Jaguar enthusiast Bryan Corser, before being sold to long-time owner Hermann Graf von Hatzfeldt in 1985.
Acquired by the consignor in 2017, and rarely driven since, the XKSS has been fastidiously maintained by marque experts Pearsons Engineering and CKL Developments.
Most surviving original XKSSs now make up private collections or are cherished museum pieces.
This includes the one owned by the King of Cool, Steve McQueen.
He acquired one of the 16 factory-made models, which was white with a red interior when he acquired it.
However, shortly after purchasing the car, McQueen had it repainted in his favourite shade of British Racing Green, polished the Dunlop wheels, and had the interior re-trimmed in black leather.
He reportedly drove it in a spirited fashion, too. It has been suggested that he received so many tickets while at the wheel that he almost lost his licence twice during the first 12 months of ownership. He eventually parted with the car in the early 1970s and that model remains on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
Sholto Gilbertson, director of sales for RM Sotheby's in the UK, says the car heading to London auction is a 'hugely significant car' and 'unquestionably one of the finest XKSSs in existence'.
And it also presents a unique proposition for European customers.
That's because it is the very first time an XKSS has been offered for auction in Europe, which is why it is estimated to go for such a high sum.
In fact, should it make the top-end £11million sale estimate, it will overtake the £10million sale price achieved last year for chassis number 'XKSS 707' to become to most expensive of its kind.
However, it won't be the most expensive British classic bought at auction. Here's a run down of six British motor cars that have sold for more in auction rooms...