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Car Of The Day: May 7, 2008; Matchbox '48 Jaguar XK120
Topic Started: May 7 2008, 03:57 AM (559 Views)
Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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Today's car of the day is Matchbox's '48 Jaguar XK120.

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Wikipedia
 
The Jaguar XK120 was a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. It was the first post-war sports car from the marque, succeeding the SS 100 which ended production in 1940 after the start of World War II in Britain. The XK120 was launched at the 1948 London Motor Show as a test bed and show vehicle to highlight the new Jaguar XK engine. The car caused a sensation, which persuaded William Lyons to put it into production as a standard model.

The first cars manufactured in 1948 and 1949 had hand built aluminum bodies on an ash frame. Jaguar built 240 of these alloy bodied cars prior to moving to a more mass production XK120 in order to meet the demand for this popular model. With the 1950 model year a production version had a steel pressed body with alloy doors, bonnet, and trunk skin. Other features included torsion bar front suspension, and a removable windscreen.

Power came from a dual overhead cam 3.4 L straight-6 engine, Jaguar's famous XK engine. With an alloy cylinder head and twin side draft SU carburetors, the XK engine was very advanced for a mass produced unit, developing 160 bhp with the standard 8:1 compression ratio. A 7:1 low compression version of the engine was also available to cope with low quality fuel. This same basic design of the XK engine was used in 3.8L and 4.2L versions into the late 1980s.

The XK120 name referred to the vehicle's impressive 120 mph (193 km/h) top speed - even faster with the windscreen removed - and at the time of its launch it was the world's fastest standard production car. It was available as a coupé (FHC or Fixed Head Coupe, introduced in 1951), convertible (DHC or Drop Head Coupe, 1953), or the original roadster (OTS or Open Two Seater). An XK120 FHC can claim the first import win in NASCAR when it won NASCAR's first road race at Linden Airport, New Jersey, June 13th, 1954 with Al Keller at the wheel. Earlier in the year, on 31 January / 1 February, an XK120 Coupe driven by Mrs D Anderson, Chas Swinburne and Bill Pitt had won the first 24 hour car race to be held in Australia, the 1954 Mt. Druitt 24 Hours Road Race.

The Roadster had a very light weight canvas top and removable side curtains screwed to the doors, which had no external handle - to open them you reached through the screen to pull a cord on the inside. It also had a removable windscreen, which could be removed so that "aeroscreens" could be fitted. The DHC or Drop Head Coupe had a padded top and roll up windows. Both the FHC and DHC had an elegant wood veneer dash, whereas the roadster's was leather. All models were manufactured with spats to cover the back wheel arch which enhanced the streamlined look, but when optional (from 1951) wire wheels were fitted, the spats had to be removed to make room for the hub spinners. There was also an M version (called SE for Special Equipment in England) which included increased power, stiffer suspension, dual exhaust, and wire wheels.

An OTS roadster with all weather gear in place tested by The Motor magazine in 1949 had a top speed of 124.6 mph (200.5 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 10.0 seconds. A fuel consumption of 19.8 miles per imperial gallon (14.3 L/100 km/16.5 mpg US) was recorded. The test car cost £1263 including taxes.


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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Jaguar XK120

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This is a recent Superfast example of the Jaguar casting, which dates to the 1984. Good to see this casting is still in the lineup!

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British cars used to be well represented in diecast thanks to Matchbox, Corgi, Husky, Budgie, and others, but these days finding any contemporary castings of classic British cars is rather challenging. At least in 1/64...

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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

Sweet looking RHD model Jag. :D Still looks good for the age of the casting.

Sir Crafty
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davidj94
Out hunting for JL
I actually like this car! But, my Dad would have LOVED it!
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
I always admired this design. I remember as a child buiding an old plastic kit of a Jag like this (Airfix or Revell) and would sometimes sit and look at the finished model and admire it's looks and wonder if I would ever see one of these in real life. I didn't until well until being an adult at a car show.

What a great British classic, and the diecast is very, very nice looking!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
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james_autos
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Minivan
Definately a big improvement on the original release, but I'm puzzled as to why they have used green glazing on it?
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
This is definitely quite a coincidence. Ten years ago on May 7th I posted a Jaguar XK120, and the Wikipedia article even notes the Linden Airport NASCAR race.

Ten years to the day later, and well, I'll share more details tomorrow. Suffice it to say this is an absolutely amazing coincidence.
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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one would have gotten my vote!
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atombaum
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The Quest Continues
Nice Matchbox.
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Pegers
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Pony Car
a real beauty.
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94cadillacfleetwood
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Nothing good ever happens after midnight.
I have the 1984 original with the famed NUB 120 number plate.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Swifty
May 6 2018, 10:14 PM
This is definitely quite a coincidence. Ten years ago on May 7th I posted a Jaguar XK120, and the Wikipedia article even notes the Linden Airport NASCAR race.

Ten years to the day later, and well, I'll share more details tomorrow. Suffice it to say this is an absolutely amazing coincidence.
Now that the day has passed, I can share some details.

In 1954, the Jaguar XK120 was raced in NASCAR's first ever road course race at Linden Airport in New Jersey. While the winner was also driving an XK120, today I met one of the other drivers who raced a Jaguar in that event - Hershel McGriff. Hershel's my birthday buddy, and at 90 years of age he's still competing occasionally in NASCAR K&N West Series races.

Oh, and I also met Ricky Craven, Donnie Allison, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty, and the King himself, Richard Petty. Today was a good day.
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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
:petkitty: Nice kitty! One of those nice, classic Jag castings from Matchbox. So neat to hear Hershel McGriff's name - met him and watched him race back in the '70's on a track at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. :toy: Remember when he drove the "Almost Heaven, West Virginia" stock car - even had a picture of it on the wall of my apartment in those days. :wave:
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
pjedsel
May 7 2018, 10:32 PM
Remember when he drove the "Almost Heaven, West Virginia" stock car - even had a picture of it on the wall of my apartment in those days. :wave:
Oh wow! I wish I'd known that - I would have asked if you wanted to send it out for an autograph!

As it stands, I know of no small scale Hershel McGriff cars (or I'd already have them) so I picked a JL '50 Olds 88 for him to sign since he raced that in the first Southern 500 back in 1950. And oh yeah, won the first Carrera Panamericana in one of them too. :D It was the most appropriate car I could think of. I do hope that JL does a recolor of that one as a tribute to his Carrera Panamericana car.

Of course I'd really love to see the Olympia Dodge in small scale, my favorite of Les Deux Monstres. :D
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corvairjim
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Fullsize
I have one of these XK120's in my collection in black with a cream interior. It was a part of a package deal on eBay about 10 years ago, and as I recall, one of the reasons I went for the package in the first place. Nice little car. I just wish I knew where it was...

Didn't Racing Champions have a Hershel McGriff car in it's series of 1950's and 60's stock cars back in the 1990's?
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
corvairjim
May 9 2018, 11:20 PM
Didn't Racing Champions have a Hershel McGriff car in it's series of 1950's and 60's stock cars back in the 1990's?
If they did I've never seen one. I would love to acquire one if it exists!
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