Jaguar XK150 3.8S

Jaguar XK150 3.8S

The Jaguar XK150 is a remarkable car by today's standards, but it must have been an incredible car over fifty years ago, in 1959.  Imagine a car with a top speed of more than 130 miles per hour in the days when there were less than 9 miles of motorway in Britain?

Jaguar XK150 3.8S on a frosty morning

Jaguar won Le Mans five times in the 1950s, and the secrets of their success spilled into Jaguar's road cars.  The XK150 was the last in a series of road going sportscars that started with the XK120 in 1948.  The car tested here is a 1959 Jaguar XK150 3.8S drop head coupe, one of the first XK150s off the production line.

The XK150 is quite a small car close up, and the pretty lines and long bonnet exude an air of innocent elegance.  The engine, however, exudes anything but innocence.  The car I drove had very little in the way of exhaust baffles, and sounded positively terrifying when opened up.  The XK150 has a 3.8 litre straight six engine that is powerful enough to rocket the car to 60mph in just 7.3 seconds.  Remember that this is a car from 1959.

Jaguar XK150 3.8S Performance