A car that changed motoring history

In 1948, London Motor Show Jaguar launched XK120, a car that was superb from every viewpoint: a roadster body more striking than anything that Jaguar had manufactured before; a very robust chassis and surprisingly new engine that made it so enviable. Many people thought that Sir William Lyons is going to take a great chance by introducing world's first mass-production twin overhead camshaft engine with hemispherical combustion chambers. In fact, nobody knew that Jaguar is going to produce something really astonishing. The great XK120 really showed its worth in terms of speed, by winning the various rallies and by becoming the fastest standard production car internationally.

In the beginning, XK120 had an aluminum two-seater roadster body on ash frame, as Lyons did not plan to start production for many of these cars, because he already planned to start production of the Mark V and the preparation of Mark VII. But when XK120 gave 213.4 km/h (132.6 mph) with great performance in the test drive, it also became the part of the production plan. 

THE JAGUAR XK120 AT JABBEKE IN 1949

Veritably, Sir William Lyons made that right decision at the right time, because XK120 helped him a lot to hit the highest point of achievement and contributed so much in the Glory Years of Jaguar. Even In 1950s, the design and dimensions of XK120 became inspiration for the other car manufacturers, so they studied and followed in their own models. (In Corvette sports car design Chevrolet engineers caught inspired by XK120 as they chosen long nose-short tail design and also102-inch wheelbase. Ford Motor Company also used dimensions of Jaguar XK120 in their two-seater Thunderbird in the early fifties). Undoubtedly, XK120 performed many wonders in past and that’s probably the reason that it’s still ruling over the hearts of millions.