This absolutely unique Jaguar XK120 is a futuristic design devised by Flajole Forerunner, the man who is also responsible for the Nash NXI that later became as successful as the Nash or Austin Metropolitan.
In the fifties, this Jaguar was described as one of the most beautifull and innovative concepts of its time. Do we still have to translate that for you? Flajole Forerunner first purchased an XK120 in the early 1950s, demolished the body and started building his new project. It cost him no less than 7.000 working hours and around $ 8.000 in material. Today, such an amount sounds like not much, but when you consider that a very nice house - with a large garden and double garage - could be bought in the US at that time for less than $ 2.500…. Apart from the extravagant design of the polyester body produced in-house and the transparent acrylic roof that can open and slip into the rear, the aircraft type seats with headrests (absolutely unique for those days when headrests still had to be invented!) especially the beige-colored, inward 'convex' front and rear fenders are special. The Forerunner lived up to its name, because less than twelve months later they were also on the new Chevrolet Corvette ... When the car was 'new' it was painted in green with beige, in a later life it was painted in burgundy with cream. Flajole Forerunner has driven it for fifteen years. After some wanderings, it has been restored and has been on display for decades at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California.
After his school in 1933, Flajole Forerunner started his controversial career in the Chrysler design department, moved on to General Motors to eventually become Bob Gregoire's right-hand man at Ford, after which he founded his own design agency. Among other things, he was responsible for the Ford Edsel Continental.