One of only 2,672 Fixed Head Coupés built
Factory-fitted with wire wheels
Timeless, elegant colour combination
In Austria for more than 25 years
When Jaguar unveiled the XK 120 in 1948, it caused a sensation for more than just its ravishing looks. A top speed of around 190 km/h made it the fastest production car of its day, yet it cost considerably less than similarly rapid exotica. Originally, the XK 120 had merely been intended as a showpiece for Jaguar’s new six-cylinder engine. The public had other ideas. Jaguar had to build it.
Initially, the XK 120 was available only as an open Roadster, with the Fixed Head Coupé following in 1951. The permanent roof changed its character considerably. A larger windscreen, plenty of glass and a proper roof over one’s head transformed the purist sports car into a fully fledged grand tourer. Inside there was leather, wood and a little more British cosiness. One could therefore travel at 190 and still behave oneself.
Beneath the long bonnet remained the engine around which the XK had been conceived in the first place: Jaguar’s 3.4-litre straight-six with twin overhead camshafts. In standard form it produced 160 bhp, while the appropriate performance upgrades could extract considerably more. Figures that, in the early 1950s, still seemed to come from another world.
That the Coupé was no mere drawing-room ornament despite all its refinement was demonstrated on racing circuits and rally stages. Most impressively, perhaps, at Montlhéry near Paris in 1952. There, an XK 120 Fixed Head Coupé thundered around the banked circuit almost continuously for seven days and seven nights. By the end, it had covered more than 27,000 kilometres at an average speed exceeding 160 km/h. Drivers came and went. The Jaguar carried on. A fairly convincing endurance test.
In fact, the fixed roof suited the character of the XK remarkably well. The Roadster was more immediate, the later Drophead Coupé more comfortable. The Fixed Head Coupé sat neatly between the two: fast, elegant and just practical enough to prevent long journeys from becoming tests of courage. Fewer than 2,700 were built by 1954, making it considerably rarer than the open XK 120.
Perhaps that made the Fixed Head Coupé the most complete XK 120 of them all. It could play racing car when the mood took it. It simply did not have to. Most of the time, being damn fast and looking exceedingly good while doing so was quite enough.
This XK 120 came to Austria around the turn of the millennium through a renowned Austrian restoration company. Already restored by that point, the car was mechanically gone through as part of the import process and was also fitted with an auxiliary cooling fan.
On 30 May 2000, one of the restorer’s customers registered the Jaguar, only to take it off the road again a year later and sell it to a collector friend. From him, the XK passed in 2014 into the collection of a new owner, who immediately registered it but took it off the road again just two years later. Over the past decade, it has seen progressively less use, which led to an overhaul of the carburettors in 2025.
A little fettling may still be required as part of its recommissioning, but fundamentally this is a solid and rare Fixed Head Coupé, finished in a timeless colour combination and given just the right sporting touch by its wire wheels.