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Tom's Cars: Jaguar XKD 522 & XKD 531

Tom's Cars: Jaguar XKD 522 & XKD 531

Two incredible Jaguar D-Types in need of restoration were inherited by a pair of custodians. Here's how they revived and preserved their incredible history.

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The Jaguar D-Type was a radical fusion of beauty and aviation-inspired engineering with one singular purpose: to conquer Le Mans.

When their friend Tom passed away, Jeremy and Bill became the caretakers of two extraordinary examples, XKD 522 and XKD 531. Both were in desperate need of restoration, but each carried a history worth preserving.

XKD 522 was one of only two factory red D-Types, famously pulled from its display at the 1955 Los Angeles Auto Show for Carroll Shelby to race after crashing his Ferrari. XKD 531 had taken a very different path, becoming an icon of the late 1950s Kustom Kulture movement, its bodywork bearing the unmistakable pinstriping of Von Dutch.

Restoring these cars was never about creating someone else's idea of perfection. For Jeremy and Bill, it meant returning each to its rightful place in history, preserving the details that made them unique, right down to the individual fasteners Jaguar used when they were built.

Paolo Lekai



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