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For Jaguar the small badge on the boot
of the XK150S fixed head coupe says it all.
Le Mans winner: 1951, 53,55,56,57. The
halcyon days of motor sport for the British maker. A time when Jaguar
dominated the world's oldest sports car endurance race and boasted
the world's fastest production car, the XK120.
The XK120-C was the first and only XK
series Jaguar to win the event, in 1951, although this needs some
clarification. The 1953 Le Mans
was won by a C-Type Jaguar and three remaining three wins came via
the D-Type Jaguars. The difference between the
C-Type/D-Type Jags and the XK cars was simple. They were built for
racing while the XK cars were road going sports machines. The 1951
winner was also known as an XK120-C, the C being for Competition. It
was however, a racing version that had similar lines to the road
variant and only 52 were built.
It used the same mechanicals as the
XK120, but the straight-six engine was tuned to around 153 kW, up
from the 134 kW of the stock XK120. It was also lightened by a
massive 450kg, by removal all unnecessary
weight. Jaguar soon learned the lesson of `Win
on Sunday, Sell on Monday' with the Le Mans wins boosting sales of
the XK120 and subsequent XK140 and XK 150 models.
Hence the reason that by the time the
XK150S arrived in 1960 Jaguar had plenty to talk about and included
all Le Mans wins on the boot badge of the latest in the XK series. By 1960 though Jaguar had been thrown
from the top spot on the Le Mans podium by Ferrari which took honours
for five consecutive years. The XK150 replaced the XK140 and
production ran from 1957-1961. It in turn was replaced by the XKE, or
E-Type.
Our featured car is a 1960 XK150S, the
model that returned some performance dignity to the XK150 range. It
is owned by Colin Galley and is believed to be one of only 111
original right hand drives in the world. When the XK150 was first introduced it
was slower than the XK140. It was fitted with the same standard
engine as fitted to the XK140, the 3.4 litre straight six, (142kW)
however most XK150s were fitted with the SE engine that boasted a
modified cylinder head and larger exhaust valves. It had twin SU HD6
carburettors. There was also a XK150S between 1957-59
that was fitted with triple SU carburettors that boasted 186 kW.
The real progress came in 1960 when
Jaguar bored out the 3.4 litre engine to 3.8 litres that produced 164
kW of power and took that even further with the 'S' version that
lifted the bar to 198 kW. This variant could top 217 km/h and hit 100
km/h in about seven seconds. Almost identical mechanicals formed the
drive train for the first E-Type. From the start the XK150 had an
appearance similar to the XK120 and XK140, but it was radically
upgraded. The two-piece windscreen was replaced by a single
windscreen and the wing line no longer dropped as much over the
doors.
The bonnet was widened giving a more
aggressive appearance. In the cabin the walnut dashboard was replaced
by a trimmed leather dash. The doors were thinner in order to give
occupants more space. Initially the XK150 was available as a fixed
head coupe, drop head coupe with the open two seater not released
until 1958.
For 1960 disc brakes were available for
the first time and either wire or disc wheels could be ordered. The
chassis and suspension were similar to the XK140. Some 2265 roadsters, 4445 fixed coupes
and 2672 drop head coupes were produced during the life of the XK150. Colin Galley's car belonged to a garage
proprietor in England from new to the
mid-1990s. It was bought by an Australian in England and bought to
Sydney where it underwent partial restoration. It was then sold and
bought by a Tasmanian owner who on-sold the car to Colin, an avid
Jaguar collector, late in 2008.
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