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This special updated Steve McQueen version of the Jaguar XKSS is unsurpassed. 1:18 scale (9" long) diecast by Auto Art. Comes in a special commemorative (and very cool) Steve McQueen box, and sits on this really great display that has a photo of Steve in the background (as pictured). The presentation is really nice.
Autoart 73519, aut73519 76526 aut76526 JAGUAR XK-SS 1956 STEVE MCQUEEN PRIVATE COLLECTION STEVE MCQUEEN VERSION JAGUAR XK-SS 1956 GREEN
The following article is an excerpt from Matt Stone's exceptionally well-written and well-researched book, McQueen's Machines, which we have ON SALE. Jaguar was a dominant force in racing during the 1950s. Ferrari was already a major player, and on the right day, Aston Martin and Maserati got their licks in. Porsche's star was rising, too, but it was Coventry's fast, dependable, and downright beautiful XK-120Ms, C-Types, and D-Types that commanded so many sports car and endurance races. Jaguars won the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times that decade, notching the hat trick in 1955, 1956, and 1957, plus countless other professional and amateur victories in Europe and the United States. The D-Type was among the definitive front-engine sports racers of the era. It was straightforward yet technologically advanced for the time, powered by Jaguar's already legendary XK dual overhead cam (DOHC) inline-six. Designed during late 1952 and 1953, and raced by the factory team from 1954 to 1956, the D-Type employed a unique chassis layout. Everything aft of the firewall was a monocoque tube; everything forward of it was a tubular structure that held the engine, front suspension, and aluminum front-hinged hood. Its sensual form was the work of Jaguar designer and aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer and company patriarch William Lyons. Most factory D-Types were equipped with 3.4-liter XK engines wearing a trio of side-draft two-barrel carburetors and employing dry-sump oiling. The earliest were factory-rated at around 250 horsepower, and the engine was backed by Jaguar's own all-synchro four-speed transmission (not to be confused with the Moss box used in production cars). In total, 67 such D-Types were constructed (plus the factory's own racers), and they competed into the early 1960s. But by the time the factory pulled out of racing after the 1956 season, the car was becoming dated as a front-line racer. Jaguar found itself with 25 customer D-Types on hand -- and no customers. It's not clear who first came up with the idea to convert them to street spec and sell them as limited-edition GTs, but that's what Jaguar did. A full-width windscreen was added up front, and a just-adequate top and luggage rack were grafted onto the rear deck in place of the dorsal fin. Removable fixed-pane side curtains were mounted to the doors. A vestigial exhaust system was devised, including a shield that only somewhat reduced the number of calves singed on the hot sidepipes. The lighting was converted to street spec, two upholstered seats were installed, a passenger-side door and four corner bumperettes were added, and that was that. A total of 16 of these XK-SSs were built. At least two were later reconverted to D-Type racing configurations, and a few that were factory-finished as race cars were later transformed into SS spec, or something similar. Only 16 of the 25 remaining cars left the factory before a massive fire struck in February 1957, destroying much of Jaguar's work-in-process inventory -- including the final nine D-Type/XK-SSs. According to Jaguar historian Phil Porter, XK-SS 713 (corresponding to D-Type chassis 569) was originally off-white with a red interior and was imported by Jaguar Cars North America in April 1957. In spite of the left-hand-drive destination, it was a right hooker. Its first owner was building contractor James Peterson, who lived in Altadena, California, and was involved in the construction of Riverside International Raceway. He soon sold the rare Jaguar to local radio/TV personality Bill Leyden, who often parked it on a studio lot on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, where McQueen saw it for the first time. McQueen purchased the car in 1958 for $5,000. I know exactly how much we paid for it, recalls wife Neile. I signed the check! McQueen added his imprint to 713. He repainted the exterior a more discreet British Racing Green. Tony Nancy restitched the interior in black leather. Von Dutch fabricated a metal glove-box door to cover the previously open storage space in the dash, purportedly to keep McQueen's shades from flying out of the cubby while he was giving the Jag a thrash. McQueen affectionately nicknamed it the Green Rat. McQueen sold 713 to mega collector William F. Harrah in late 1967, under the premise that it remain on permanent display at his Harrah's Auto Collection in Reno. A decade later, McQueen wanted the car back, and after a two-year negotiation said to be sometimes friendly, sometimes less so, he repurchased it. In 1984, the XK-SS was sold at McQueen's estate auction to Richard Freshman, McQueen's friend and former neighbor, for $148,000 (another source says $147,500). Freshman commissioned a high-quality yet sympathetic restoration/preservation carried out by Lynx in England. He insisted that McQueen's modifications remain. Freshman sold the special Jag to current owners Margie and the late Robert E. Petersen in 2000, enhancing their collection of movie-star cars. Mulholland Drive runs along the uppermost ridge of the Hollywood Hills and the eastern portion of the Santa Monica mountains. Depending on where you are on this storied street, you can look to the north to see Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, and the Hollywood sign. Pan south, and seemingly all of Los Angeles, from downtown to the Pacific coastline, lies out in front of you like a giant ant farm. Mulholland is a curvaceous ribbon of pavement that winds up, down, and around for miles. It's here that McQueen, sometimes with a few pals, would take his cars out to play, usually between midnight and 4 a.m. It took only minutes to get from his home on Solar Drive (where he lived from 1960 until mid-1963 and which inspired the name of his film company, Solar Productions. Fitting my large frame into the XK-SS's compact confines is a chore but worth it. Nancy's neatly patterned leather interior has developed a rich patina and, save minor wear, remains in excellent condition. The wood-and-aluminum steering wheel sits close to the chest, and the large, classic Smiths speedo and tach are just to its left. From this vantage point, you see curves everywhere: the small, tightly wrapped windshield, the roundness of the nose, and most of all, those arching fenders that resemble feline and female body forms. The starter motor cranks hard against the XK's 12.0:1 compression ratio, but the engine lights with a serious bark out the left flank. Volumes of sounds pour out -- a throaty, race-bred gurgle, like that of an expensive motorboat and one that could come only from a straight six. McQueen would hold a cig and drape the steering wheel with his right hand and row the stubby, aluminum-knobbed shifter with his left. First gear is tall -- good to over 50 -- yet second and third are spaced close to keep the growling six on the boil. With around 300 horsepower from the blueprinted XK six on tap, and an estimated weight of little more than 2,000 pounds, the XK-SS isn't quick . . . it's genuinely fast, even in today's terms. Five-second 0-to-60 times were positively exotic for 1957. There's a vintage feel about 713, yet it doesn't seem like a 50-year-old car. I couldn't drive 713 as hard or fast as McQueen did -- it's a 2.5 to 3.0 million-dollar piece nowadays -- but I couldn't help snapping off crisp 1-2 shifts at about 5,000 revs. Gas it, and the exhaust note hardens to a throaty blare, harmonized by a reedy intake noise from the sidedraft Webers. The pipes pop and spit when you let off the gas. Heat waves boil out of the hood vents. Intoxicating. Local legend holds that at least one L.A. law-enforcement agency had promised an expensive steak dinner to the officer who could nail McQueen and the Jag with a speeding ticket. The tale continues that, while he was spotted often and even pursued a time or two, he was never caught and the ticket never written. The steak dinner went unclaimed. Another story refutes the entire affair, alleging that McQueen was so awash in speeding tickets he nearly lost his license.
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