My search for a blue chip 120 OTS remained fruitless for many years. That was, until I purchased this example from Alain DeCadenet. Many of you know Alain from the phenomenal series “Victory by Design”. Alain reports this 120 was found in a garage in California, parked for 20+ years after being hidden by its previous owner during his divorce. An original, unrestored car registered on California vintage blue plates *XK120SS, it has been a lifetime resident of the car friendly west coast.
I had the car delivered to Milwaukee and was thrilled with what arrived ~ a virtual time-capsule 120 with not a spec of rust or prior repair. And talk about an ultimate specification for a 120 ~a true last year (1954) real Special Equipment (SE) car with painted wire wheels, factory dual exhaust, C-Type head, etc. Even the original leather wrap was on the rear leaf springs.
If you love originality like I do, you’ll appreciate this 120. The paint is highly presentable, but also tired. She won’t win a concours but the patina is magnificent and there is no question this cars the real deal. The red interior is original with the exception of the seats, which were. recovered decades ago, and the carpet that I had to replace because various moth larvae and rodents apparently took a liking to the Wilton Wool during storage. So the carpet and seats are honestly “too nice” for the car but a little use will cure that.
‘After mechanically sorting this 120 and driving it for a few years in stock spec I decided to tum it up a bit. Out came the original numbers-matching 3.4L and Moss crash-box, both unopened since they left Coventry, and in went a 3.8L E-Type “hot rod” engine built for me by the legendary Bill Terry. Bill stuffed it with a forged crank, Carillo rods, custom JE pistons, a fully ported head, big cams of his own spec, twin 2” SU carbs, and all kinds of other tricks. Behind that went a slick 5 speed trans conversion that bolted in with no modifications. I gotta say between the big HP and rev-happy nature of the 3.8, and that overdrive 5th gear this 120 is a Cat that runs like a Cobra
Someday I might decide to slow down and drop the original engine and trans back in. But it might be a while because I’m having too much fun with al this newfound speed in my “shabby chic” 120SE!
