Perhaps no sports car of the immediate postwar period so handily combined form and function as the Jaguar XK 120, which this beautifully presented, late-production example ably demonstrates. According to a Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust trace certificate, chassis number 680611 was built to the uprated Special Equipment specifications, which featured higher-lift camshafts, a lightened flywheel, stiffer rear springs, wire wheels, and dual exhaust pipes. Finished in Black paint over a Red interior, the XK was completed in January 1953, and 11 days later the car was dispatched for shipping to Max Hoffman’s legendary distributorship in New York City.

Purchased by an unknown American enthusiast, the Jaguar reportedly remained in the care of its first owner until 1970. The XK 120 was then acquired by Neil Leatherwood of Ashville, Ohio, and his family went on to keep the car for 29 years, accounting for just two long-term owners over 46 years. During this time the coupe accrued relatively little mileage while being mechanically maintained as needed—including a complete engine rebuild—and stored in a climate-controlled garage. The car was also cosmetically refinished in the current charming color combination of white paint over a beige leather interior.

After passing to a New York-based collector in April 1999, the Jaguar was acquired in May 2002 by the late Pennsylvania-based collector Dennis Nash, who worked in the automotive sector for many years, and who was also a passionate enthusiast of British sports cars. Dennis and his wife Ann Marie enjoyed touring in their small stable of English thoroughbreds, which included two Bentleys, a Morgan, an MG, and the featured XK 120. As demonstrated by a stack of invoices on file, Mr. Nash regularly maintained the Jaguar, personally tending to it as needed and commissioning a sympathetic restoration by Ragtops & Roadsters of Perkasie, Pennsylvania in 2006. The Nash family drove and presented the coupe at smaller East Coast events and tours, including the Concours d’Elegance of the Eastern United States.

The Jaguar has remained in storage since Mr. Nash’s passing in July 2021, and it is now offered by his estate, capping a remarkable 22-year period of fastidious ownership. Retaining its numbers-matching engine, this XK remains fetching in its opulent livery of white over beige. It is furthermore desirably configured as a more powerful Special Equipment variant, offering the ultimate mechanical specification of Coventry’s celebrated sports car legend.