Classic Jaguar XK

Book excerpt: There have been other generations of Jaguar XK since, but the definitive incarnation is the family of 6-cylinder sports cars that stretch from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, from XK120 to the E-Type. On road, on track and on rally stage, they built the foundations of Jaguar’s sporty image and giant-killing reputation, not to mention its commercial roots - especially in America. By any definition, the 6-cylinder XKs are at the heart of everything that Jaguar grew into. This is the complete story of the whole 6-cylinder XK generation, the circumstances, the people and the events that created it and made it a sports car legend – and guaranteed that forever after, in Jaguar’s vocabulary, XK would always mean ‘sports car’.