25 NEW ROADSTERS FOR DIE-HARD FANS
JAGUAR has revealed its third-ever continuation car, the D-Type. The six-cylinder roadster joins the Jaguar Lightweight E-Type and the Jaguar XKSS continuation cars in the programme the company developed in 2014 to reissue modernised versions of its most iconic models.
This latest car, although made this year, will look exactly like the original D-type, which won the Le Mans 24 Hours race three times from 1955 to 1957.
In an email, Tim Hannig, the director of Jaguar Land Rover Classic, characterised the car as a “once-ina-lifetime” project.
He is biased. But it’s true that this recreation - which, judging from previous continuations, is likely to cost more than £1 million (RM5.52 million) - is a special car.
One that was once owned by Bernie Ecclestone, the eccentric former head of Formula 1, was offered for sale for US$12 million (RM47.26 million) last month at a Gooding & Co auction in Arizona. While that one didn’t sell, Sotheby’s sold a 1955 D-Type in 2016 for almost US$22 million.
Against those prices, this new one, for what will likely cost less than US$2 million, is practically a steal.
The D-Type is so special because of its rarity, racing wins, and body styling. Its shape was heavily influenced by the most advanced aeronautical technology of the time, with a monocoque cockpit fashioned from sheets of aluminium alloy. At the time, designers followed a practice that originated in the field of aviation: stashing the fuel in the vehicle’s tail.
Every aspect of the new version will follow authentic, original specifications, including the sleek hood, wide-angle cylinder heads, quickchange brake calipers, and unmistakable tail fin. The interior will have the same round speedometer dial, thin wooden and metal-perforated steering wheel (right-hand drive, of course), and four-speed manual shifter. The steel on the exterior will also be the alloy.
At the time of its original debut, the car had 250hp and could hit a top speed of 270kph.
Clients can even choose to buy either a 1955-spec shortnose or a 1956-spec longnose version. (Yes, there are still some available to buy.) Deliveries will start later this year.
Twenty-five will be made - considerably more than the six Lightweight E-Types Jaguar built in 2014 and the nine XKSSs it built last year.
A spokesman for Jaguar, owned by Tata Motors Ltd, said the increase reflected that only 75 were completed of an original production run that had been intended in 1955 to reach 100, though it’s safe to say the company will make a tidy profit producing these modern historic vehicles.
Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover Ltd. has done similar work on a far less-expensive and rarefied scale to much success with its Land Rover Classic and Range Rover Rebuild programmes.
The Range Rover Rebuild programme, for instance, reissues small batches (fewer than a dozen) of 1970s-era Range Rovers to capitalise on the explosion of interest in them on the vintage market.
The new D-Type made its first public appearance at the Salon Retromobile in Paris on Wednesday.