One other of Sir Stirling Moss’s outdated vehicles, this time a Jaguar D-Sort which the British legend raced on the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans, is being put up for public sale with an anticipated sale value between £5.2 million and £6.82 million.
Final week a uncommon, streamlined 1955 Mercedes W196, one in all solely 4 full examples in existence, and which Moss raced at that 12 months’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, (£42.7 million), setting a report for a grand prix automotive.
The D-Sort, which was assigned chassis quantity XKD 403 however is best recognized by its “OKV 2” licence plate, will not be anticipated to fetch something like that quantity. However it’s nonetheless a sought-after piece of racing historical past.
Moss and co-driver Peter Walker drove OKV 2 on the 1954 Le Mans 24-hour race, recording a high velocity of 172.97 mph on the three.7-mile Mulsanne Straight, a report on the time. Brake-related issues prevented the pair from ending the race. First place went to a Ferrari 375 Plus, with one other D-Sort, pushed by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt, taking second.
D-Sort Jaguars have been constructed between 1954 and 1957, particularly concentrating on Le Mans. The automotive shared the straight-six XK engine of its C-Sort predecessor however with a radically completely different aerodynamic package deal, together with some aviation expertise. OKV 2 has a particular vertical stabiliser or tail fin.
The automotive’s present proprietor, Nevada collector Dean Meiling, reunited it with Stirling Moss in 2011 and entered it within the 2012 version of the Le Mans Basic. Meiling has additionally given OKV 2 a makeover, becoming road tyres, making wiring repairs to the headlights in 2020, and totally rebuilding the three.4-litre straight-six engine in 2013.
In 2018, Meiling put OKV 2 up for public sale at RM Sotheby’s Scottsdale sale, the place its estimated worth ranged from $12 million to $15 million. It failed to fulfill the reserve, after a excessive bid of $9.8 million. Meiling will attempt once more at Broad Arrow’s 2025 Amelia Public sale, which is happening on March 7 and eight at Amelia Island’s Ritz-Carlton Lodge. This time the automotive is being supplied with no reserve.
They don’t construct them like they used to…
It has been fascinating to notice the about gross sales of traditional racing vehicles, from Bernie Ecclestone placing of historic grand prix and Formulation One vehicles up for public sale late final 12 months, to final week’s story concerning the W196 Mercedes, to this D-Sort. Typically it has all been of a sort. A mix of nostalgia and appreciation for lovely engineering.
One wonders whether or not there would be the identical urge for food for present grand prix and sports activities vehicles in 70 years’ time? Most likely not. Immediately’s vehicles are undeniably unbelievable feats of engineering and are extra refined than ever. And wonder, after all, is within the eye of the beholder. Who’s to say whether or not at this time’s vehicles will probably be deemed lovely in 70 years?
What at this time’s vehicles wouldn’t have, although, and by no means may have, is a hyperlink to a bygone period of motor racing when fanatics and daredevils reminiscent of Moss went out and risked their lives on roads and circuits everywhere in the world. It was a distinct world.
This D-Sort is an ideal instance. En path to the 1955 Portuguese Grand Prix, the Jaguar transporter apparently broke down. Instruments and spare components have been loaded into OKV 2 and the automotive was pushed the 980 miles to the race, the place it completed fifth. It was then pushed the 980 miles again. Immediately’s collectors get to be a part of that historical past.
“Immediately, I can’t consider a greater automotive to get pleasure from on such high-profile highway rallies just like the Mille Miglia retrospective or California Mille,” mentioned Jakob Greisen, senior automotive specialist at Broad Arrow Auctions. “It nonetheless captures the true golden age of Jaguar racing.”
