The XK120 replaced the SS100 which went out of production in 1940 after the start of WW2 in Britain. Highlight of the 1948 London Motor Show, it was shown as a testbed for the new XK engine. Massive public interest pursuaded William Lyons to put the XK120 into production and it went on sale later that year. The first cars manufactured in 1948 and 1949 had hand built aluminium bodies on an ash frame.
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