February 11, 2009Sighting: Jaguar XK120

No trip to the Hamptons is complete without at least a few absurd car sightings and while the supply of outrageous cars is less robust in February than it is during the high season, last week’s trip did not disappoint. Saturday morning’s drive through Southampton brought Ferrari and Maserati sightings while passing through Sag Harbor one couldn’t help but notice a green Lamborghini Gallardo, and in Easthampton, you would think the Mercedes G-Wagon was a Honda Civic given its prevalence! While all of those cars provoke at least a casual headturn, it was a rare and more classic vehicle that was the most attention-grabbing.

It wasn’t until Sunday, while walking on Main Street in Easthampton, that I first spotted the beautiful red Jaguar XK120 parked in front of a local bookstore. The Jaguar XK120 was the first post-WWII sportscar developed by Jaguar and its production period ran from 1948 to 1954. With a top speed of 120 miles per hour (hence the XK”120”), the successor to the Jag SS 100 was the fastest standard-production car in the world at the time and was the first imported car to win a NASCAR road race (New Jersey, 1954).

The XK120’s beautifully sculpted body characterized by stretched and curvy lines, and its interior resembling the kind of worn baseball mitt you might have inherited from a grandfather is the epitome of British refinement and hearkens back to a time when an affiliation with Ford might have been unimagineable. The XK120’s old-world aesthetic communicates diametric messages to onlookers: on the one hand tempting spectators to climb inside and be enveloped by the car’s worn leather and aged creases, while, on the other hand commanding the admiration bestowed upon a piece of fine art that one might find in a gallery or museum.