A 1957 Jaguar XKSS was sold last week by RM Sotheby’s at its auction coinciding with 2023 Monterey Car Week.
After some intensive bidding, the car finally sold for $13,205,000, which was right in the center of its estimate of between $12 million and $14 million.
The car, which bears chassis no. 707, is among the best preserved examples of the Jaguar race car built for the road. It features most of its original bodywork, plus an original engine block and head, and even two of the three carburetors, according to the auction listing. The odometer shows 25,535 miles, which is thought to be the actual lifetime mileage.
The original XKSS cars were D-Type race cars converted for road use and sold to customers mostly in the U.S., one of them being Steve McQueen. After winning Le Mans with the D-Type two years in a row, Jaguar chose to withdraw from racing at the end of the 1956 season. That left some spare D-Type chassis.
For the XKSS, Jaguar modified the bodywork, losing the distinct fin and adding basic amenities, including a passenger door, a windshield, side curtains, and a folding top, but the company kept the 262-hp 3.4-liter inline-6 engine and other mechanical hardware. The result was a road-going version of a still-competitive race car. The D-Type went on to win Le Mans again in 1957 with the privateer Ecurie Ecosse team.
Jaguar planned to build 25 examples of the XKSS, but only 16 were built in 1957 before a fire broke out at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory, with the unfinished cars either destroyed by the fire or later dismantled for parts. In 2016, Jaguar got around to building those final nine examples as continuation cars that were each sold for $1.5 million.
1957 Jaguar XKSS bearing chassis no. 707 – Photo credit: RM Sotheby’s
Chassis no. 707 was one of the original 16 cars to be built. It was imported to the U.S. originally for delivery to racing driver Lou Brero Sr., who selected a cream exterior and red interior. He died in a crash before taking delivery and as a result the car was sold to dealer Sammy Weiss, whose Sacramento dealership sold it to San Francisco resident and racer Sidney Colberg in 1960.
Colberg kept the XKSS for 15 years before selling it to British enthusiast Anthony Bamford. The car then remined in the U.K., trading hands a few times. Over the years, the original hood, dented in racing incidents, was replaced, as well as a rear bulkhead due to the original featuring holes once cut for roll bars. The car was also repainted at one point to its current metallic blue—a nod to the Ecurie Ecosse race cars.
1957 Jaguar XKSS bearing chassis no. 707 – Photo credit: RM Sotheby’s
RM Sotheby’s also sold a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 for $5.4 million in Monterey, as well as a 2003 Ferrari Enzo for just over $4 million, and a 1990 Ferrari F40 for $3.3 million.
The highest price fetched for a Ferrari in Monterey was a 1967 412P race car. It was sold by rival auction house Bonhams for just over $30 million.
