One-off Pininfarina-bodied XK120 unveiled at Pebble Beach

A restored 1954 XK120 SE by Pininfarina has been unveiled at the Pebble Beach concours event in California.

The car was treated to a full nut-and-bolt restoration taking 6725 hours by Classic Motor Cars and finished second in its class at the prestigious US event.

Peter Neumark, of CMC, said, ‘It was a privilege to take the cover off this long-lost Jaguar at one of the most important concours in the world.

He added: ‘The car was admired all day and we are delighted to be bringing a trophy home as a further testimony to the skills, dedication and attention to detail that we have in our business.’

The team of specialists faced a number of challenges during the restoration, from finding the original paint colour to remaking the bumpers and rear windscreen. Smaller missing parts were also 3D printed in-house.

During the pre-restoration inspection, it was found that Pininfarina had used the original XK body as a basis, and that, at some point in its life, the car was painted Burgundy and had the seats covered with tan leather. 

The team couldn’t find any signs of the original paint colour until the last nut and bolt was removed – the front windscreen was removed and there was a small enough section to provide a colour match.