Throughout the 1950s, Jaguar accomplished five overall wins at the Le Mans 24 Hours (1951 C-Type, 1953 C-Type, 1955 D-Type, 1956 D-Type, 1957 D-Type). From leftover D-Type monocoque hulls came the birth of the 1957 Jaguar XKSS, litterally a road version of the potent D-Type race car. Both the D-Type and the XKSS have identical running gear, knock-off wheels, Dunlop disc brakes and the 3.5L, straight-six, dry-sump engine producing 250bhp.

The conversion from race winner to road car includes the addition of side windows, upright windscreen, convertible top, bumpers and turn indicators. One major design feature was left off of the XKSS that set the D-Type apart, visually, from any other car - the rear tail fin. The tail-fin, although stunning in its execution, would have been a great hinderance in visibility on public roadways.

In the image above the top and bottom cars are 1957 XKSSs and the middle car and the background image are D-Types. Of the two XKSSs, the top one was photographed at the 1998 Concours on Rodeo and he bottom XKSS was photographed at the 2000 Amelia Island Concours where it collected honors as the best unrestored car. A joy to see on such a rare and highly-valued automobile. The middle car, the D-Type, was photographed at the Cincinnati Concours in 1994 while the D-Type in the background was photographed at the vintage races as Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1996.

October 20-27 - In the automotive world who are Fred and August and what did they manufacture? Hint: They built America's first straight eight engine in 1920. Trivia archives.