How many xk120

Lyons designed the body in a few weeks, a MK V saloon chassis was cut down and a 3. The original design used an aluminium body over an ash and steel frame, which was in fact heavier than the later steel cars, but a redesign was necessary to keep up with the unanticipated levels of demand. In May the first steel bodied XK rolled out of the factory and finally, after only building 96 cars in the first two years of production, Jaguar could keep up with demand for its now legendary sports car.

This made the XK a truly practical car with winding windows and a walnut veneered dashboard. The reason for the majority of XKs being exported was two fold; first there was high overseas demand, particularly from the USA, for the XK and secondly in post-war England scarce resources were allocated to those companies that exported much of their production.

The exportation of the XK meant that Jaguar not only lead the way in motor sport through the s but also lead the way towards economic recovery for the UK.

Power was increased form bhp to bhp and wire wheels added to provide better cooling for the drum breaks. In the midst of the war, Lyons would meet with Bill Heynes, Walter Hassan , and Claude Baily during fire watching duties at the Foleshill Factory in Coventry to talk about designing a new post-war engine. In March of , a general meeting took place amongst the S. At the conclusion of the war, a greater focus could be placed on the new engine which Lyons originally desired for a new range of saloons.

Lyons recognized there were higher profits to be made with the high-volume sales of saloon cars and envisioned a period of austerity after the war with a greater interest in smaller engines.

Consequently, both four and six-cylinder variants were conceived. Engineers under the leadership of brilliant technical director William Heynes were aiming to finish their first post-war project being the development of the new X-Series engine.

Fuel economy issues at the time were making large engines impractical, so they concentrated instead on specific output, getting the greatest power out of a modest displacement. Bill Heynes heavily pushed for dual overhead camshafts that had shown success on the racetrack but were seldom seen on street cars due to their complexity and significant expense. The initial XK engine, a four-cylinder unit, was not run until October of It consisted of a three-bearing crankshaft, a bore and stroke of 76 x 98 mm along with a capacity of 1, cc.

During early trials, the four-cylinder unit produced an output of 76 bhp. By testing the engine, it allowed them to develop the overall design which consisted of:. Also developed was a six-cylinder version with a bore and stroke of 83 x 98 mm with a capacity of 3, cc. The six-cylinder version was found to be smoother than the four-cylinder, so work continued by focusing on the 6-cylinder version. Following experimenting with various configurations, the designers chose a six-cylinder version with the stroke increased to mm to give a swept volume of 3, cc that produced a staggering bhp.

Despite Lyons having a dynamic new engine, he was in an unusual position where he had no car to put it in. Work on the monocoque for the Mark VII saloon was taking much longer than anticipated and it would not be ready for the first post-war Motor Show in Instead, a choice was made to display the engine in a new sports car.

Lyons went on to design a suitable body that would match a shortened Mark V chassis. With the aid of Fred Gardner, the XK was designed and constructed within months. The XK design was sleek, modern with an elongated hood. At the same time, its competitors were principally displaying sports cars still inspired by pre-war design and technology.

What really stole the show, however, was the Jaguar XK Equally exciting was what was under the hood. In fact, the XK was originally meant as just an attention-grabbing show car to draw attention to the new XK engine, and it was only after the sensational demand for the car following Earls Court that Jaguar put the car into production. The 3. In various forms, the XK engine went on to win Le Mans five times, powered everything from big saloons to E-Types , and was used in passenger cars all the way up until But back to the car itself.

A fixed-head coupe joined the lineup in , and a drophead coupe with roll-up windows and a better top than the original roadster arrived in Jaguar built a little more than 12, XKs before the revised XK arrived in The enamelled manifolds and polished camshaft covers presented a handsome view when the bonnet was opened. The 3.