Jaguar XK120 Four-Seat Drophead Coupé By Abbott

This is a one-off among XK120s: a four-seat drophead coupé built by Abbott of Farnham on a bare chassis supplied by Jaguar in April 1951. Jaguar never made a four-seat XK120 itself, and the page describes this as the only confirmed case of Sir William Lyons authorising a rolling chassis and engine to go to an outside coachbuilder for a complete body. It was ordered by a New Zealand client, David Stuart Mitchell of Tauranga, and predates Jaguar's own XK120 drophead by roughly two years.

The body is hand-formed aluminium over an ash frame, lengthened slightly with the boot moved rearwards to make room for rear seats. The car stayed in New Zealand for about fifty years before a body-off restoration between 2002 and 2006, which took around 5,000 hours. The interior was retrimmed in Connolly leather with a new walnut dashboard, and the engine was rebuilt with some reliability improvements.

The restored car won Best Restored Car of the Show at Techno-Classica Essen in 2007. The dealer says the chassis, engine and gearbox numbers match factory records, and a history file includes factory papers and restoration documents. Chassis number is 660750. Price is on application and no mileage is given. The full photo set is still to come.