THE XK GOES EXTREME
After being responsible for the stillborn XJ41 and penning the original proposal that design boss Geoff Lawson developed into the production XK8, South African-born stylist Keith Helfet was tasked with a very special project to celebrate 50 years of Jaguar’s XK engine in 1998.
“Despite the ultra-short eight-week timeframe, designs were developed around a shortened XK8 with a tuned 450bhp V8 and it was completed on schedule,” Helfet recalls of the XK180, which caused a sensation when it was revealed at the 1998 Paris Salon. “I discussed the programme with Geoff, and it was agreed I’d work up a sort of roadster version of the XK8. It was a two-seater with a single windscreen wiper, allowing me to put ‘cleavage’ into the ’screen, which reflected the nacelles behind the driver and passenger’s heads. It was a very voluptuous car and very satisfying as an attempted homage to the D-type.”
While he was a student at the Royal College of Art, Helfet had been to Prescott Speed Hill Climb and been seduced by the sight of an unpainted D-type bodyshell. “The shape struck a chord in my designer’s mind,” he says. “It was a piece of sculpture in steel. Who would have thought that I would one day design a spiritual successor? It was a defining moment in my career.”
Lawson subsequently asked Helfet to style a production car with the XK180 as its design ‘signature.’ With no further brief, he decided to start with dimensions similar to the tiny Porsche Boxster Concept show car. Called the F-type Concept, it was revealed at the Detroit Motor Show in 2000 but tragically Ford killed off the entire programme and it remained a show car.
“One American enthusiast quipped that the rear was so sexy, it should be wearing a thong,” laughs Helfet. Mike Taylor