The Jaguar XK 120, from 1948, registration number 36-39-MD, belongs to Ricardo Veloza.
It was bought in very poor condition and restored in his garage, in Madeira.
With this car, he has already participated in great competitions, as in 2000, when he travelled between London and Lisbon, accompanied by his son Martim. He also travelled from the English capital to Bilbao, in northern Spain, in 12 hours. After having completed that journey, they enquired if he was actually going to complete the competition with that car. He completed the trip and still drove the vehicle in Lisbon for a week before bringing it to Madeira.
The Jaguar XK120 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. It was the first sports car from the British brand since production of the SS 100 ended in 1939.
The XK120 is a highly desirable model. It was launched in an open 2-seater or roadster (US) format at the 1948 London Motor Show as a testbed and show car for the new Jaguar XK engine, designed by Jaguar's chief engineer William Heynes. The display vehicle was the first prototype, chassis number 660001. It looked almost identical to the production cars, except for the straight outer windshield pillars, which were curved on the production version. The sports car was impressive, thus convincing the Jaguar founder and chairman William Lyons to put it into production.
From 1948, the first 242 cars had open 2-seater car bodies with a wooden frame and aluminium panels. The "120" in the name, referred to the aluminium car's top speed of 120 mph (193 km/h) (faster without the windshield), making it the fastest production car in the world at the time of its release. In 1949, the first production car, chassis number 670003, was delivered to American actor Clark Gable.
The XK120 was finally available in three versions or car body styles, first as an open 2-seater described in the US market as a roadster, then as a fixed-head coupé from 1951, and, finally, as a drophead coupé, from 1953 onwards, all of these two-seaters and available with left-hand or right-hand drive. However, some special equipment roadsters and fixed head coupés were produced between 1948 and 1949, indicated by an 'S' preceding the chassis number. These special equipment vehicles were sold as an early production version for enthusiasts. A smaller 2-litre, 4-cylinder version called the XK100, intended for the UK market, was cancelled before production.
On May 30, 1949, along the empty Ostend-Jabbeke motorway in Belgium, an XK120 prototype, timed by officials of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, achieved an opposite-direction run average of 132.6 mph, with the windshield replaced by just a small aerodynamic screen and a catalogued alternative top gear ratio, and 135 mph with a passenger-side tonneau cover fitted. In 1950 and 1951 at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, an oval banked track in France, the open XK120s averaged over 100 mph in 24 hours and over 130 mph in an hour. In 1952, a coupé broke several world records for speed and distance by averaging 160 km/h in a week. The XK120s have also enjoyed great success in racing and rallies.
Datasheet Year: 1948 Brand: Jaguar Model: XK 120 Country: England License plate:36-39-MD Engine: 3.5 cc Gearbox: 1