Mike Gulett blogs about a legend and his legendary ’57 XK-SS, a fast, sexy and delightfully impractical sports car!
“I loved that Jag, but I drove it too fast,” said Hollywood icon and consummate bike and car guy, Steve McQueen.
The XK-SS, a street version of the D-Type racer, was a very limited build of leftover customer racecars after Jaguar pulled out of racing. They managed to convert 16 of the D-Types before a fire destroyed Jaguar’s plant and remaining nine vehicles. Steve McQueen’s right-hand-drive XK-SS started life as a white car with red interior, imported by Jaguar Cars North America in April 1957.
For more about McQueen’s machine, check out Mike Gulett’s My Car Quest, http://mycarquest.com/2011/11/this-jaguar-was-once-owned-by-steve-mcqueen-twice.html