1946 Jaguar 2½-Litre 'Trossi' Style Special

Footnotes

Based on a Jaguar 2½-Litre saloon chassis, this stunning car was inspired by the famous pre-war Mercedes-Benz SSK owned by Italian racing driver, Count Carlo Felice Trossi. During a career interrupted by WW2, Trossi raced for Alfa Romeo and Maserati. He started racing in sports car events and hill climbs, finishing 2nd in the 1932 Mille Miglia, before becoming a Grand Prix driver in 1934 with Scuderia Ferrari, which was running the Alfa Romeo works team. In his first season with the Scuderia, Trossi won the Montreux, Vichy, and Biella Grands Prix. Splitting with Ferrari, he switched to Maserati and won the Coppa Ciano and Lucca Grand Prix in 1936 and the Naples, Genoa, and Lucca GPs in 1937. Having spent the war serving in the Italian Air Force, Trossi returned to competition with Alfa Corse, winning the 1947 Italian Grand Prix and the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix. He died of natural causes in 1949.

Trossi's SSK had originally been shipped to Japan as a rolling chassis but was returned, unsold, to the factory. Bodied as a spyder by Carrozzeria Touring, the SSK was sold via the Mercedes-Benz dealer in Milan to Sr Antonio Maino, who raced it from 1930 to 1933, including at the Mille Miglia. Count Trossi bought the car in June 1933 and had it re-bodied to his own specification, though it is not known if he was the actual designer. Trossi's SSK, chassis number '36038', still exists and in 1993 was judged 'Best in Show' at Pebble Beach.

Clearly, any re-creation of a thoroughbred motor car such as the Mercedes-Benz SSK requires a suitably sporting chassis, hence the choice of the Jaguar 2½-Litre, a close relative of the pre-war SS100, which had a suitably lengthy wheelbase. Like the majority of Britain's motor manufacturers, Jaguar Cars, as William Lyons' SS concern had been renamed in 1945, commenced post-war production with a range of pre-war designs. Essentially stopgap models pending the arrival of an entirely new generation of Jaguars, these comprised the compact 1½-Litre and the larger 2½/3½-Litre model. The latter was retrospectively known as the 'Mark IV' after the Mark V's introduction in 1948, although this was never a factory designation. Built on a generous 120" wheelbase, the 'Mark IV' retained a separate chassis featuring beam front and live rear axle suspension, semi-elliptic springing and Girling mechanical brakes. The stylish all-steel coachwork was available in saloon or drophead coupé forms and featured the kind of luxurious and well-appointed interior that would become a Jaguar hallmark. Used by SS Cars since 1934, the engine was Standard's rugged seven-bearing six fitted with a Weslake overhead-valve cylinder head and coupled to a four-speed manual gearbox. Standard boss Sir John Black had indicated that the larger engines would no longer be available once peace returned, so Lyons bought the tooling and brought their production in house, relying on Standard only for the 1½-litre unit. In 3½-litre form the Jaguar six produced 125bhp, an output good enough to propel the sturdily built Mark IV to over 90mph.

This unique car was built be skilled craftsmen in the UK using traditional techniques such as the 'English Wheel', which was used to create the beautifully curved body panels. Registered in Italy as a 'Jaguar 100SS Saloon', the car is finished in black and presented in overall good condition.

Please note that these lot will require an Export License to be exported out of Italy.