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After Jaguar withdrew from racing the company offered the remaining unfinished D-type chassis as the roadgoing Jaguar XKSS. The D-type had won the 1955 Lemans 24 hr race. On the night of February 12 1957 a fire destroyed Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory along with almost 300 cars and all the tooling and wooden ‘bucks’ needed to form the D-type’s curvaceous body. Of the planned initial run of Jaguar XKSS cars only 16 had been built. Of these, 12 ended up being shipped to the U.S. Steve McQueen loved his XKSS. He bought it in 1958 when cashed up after his successful TV series Wanted: Dead or Alive. He’d seen the white Jag with cherry red upholstery around the studio car parks and persuaded its owner, TV personality Bill Leyden, to part with it. Within days, he’d had the car resprayed in his favourite British Racing green, had the Dunlop racing wheels polished to a mirror-like sheen, and the interior re-trimmed in rich black leather. He collected so many speeding tickets in it that he had his drivers license suspended twice. In the early ‘70s, the actor was big into circuit racing, but felt his Jaguar too rare to risk. He sold it to casino owner Bill Harrah to join his 1400 strong car collection in Reno, Nevada, but only on condition the car was never driven or sold, and that McQueen could buy it back at the original price. Following Harrah’s 1977 death, McQueen reaquired the car which he kept until his own death in 1980, willing it to his children, Chad and Terry as part of McQueen's collection of 133 motor bikes and 35 cars .
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BIANTE BROCK 84 BATHURST WINNER
VL SS Group A and W427
