1940s JAGUAR XK120 - 132.6mph

Of all the cars gathered here today, and taking into account the vagaries of inflation, the Jaguar XK120 was not only the least expensive when it was new, but also a relative bargain. Who would have thought that £1263 would buy what was, in 1948, not just the UK's but the world's fastest production car?

Ironically, Jaguar boss Bill (Sir William from 1956) Lyons didn't initially put his weight behind the model. His focus was the MKVII, set to be Jaguar's first 100mph saloon and powered by an all-new, highly sophisticated straight-six engine developed during the war years by the in-house team of William Heynes, Claude Baily and Walter Hassan. But with completion of the first car delayed for its 1948 Earls Court debut, Lyons chose instead to showcase the XK120.

Audiences were stunned. What had been seen by Jaguar as a novel – but not particularly a commercial - offering changed people's views of what a modern sports car should look like. Using the MKVII's chassis and engine, albeit in highly modified forms, everything about the XK120 show car shouted speed, from its low-slung body's exquisite, flowing lines to its spatted rear wheels and raked radiator grille. The XK120's advanced, double-overhead-cam 'six' with hemispherical combustion chambers and inclined valves was tuned to develop 160bhp, with 195lb ft of torque at just 2500rpm. A steel chassis with independent front suspension and an all-aluminum body (changed to steel in 1950, adding 112lb) meant the new Jaguar genuinely was a look into the automotive future.

As was its top speed. While the ‘120' moniker was derived from near enough the car's official Vmax, factory test driver Ron 'Soapy' Sutton achieved 126.4mph on Belgium's OstendJabbeke motorway, validated by the local Royal Automobile Club. The car ran a catalogued taller top-gear ratio but was otherwise standard.

He then replaced the full-sized split windscreen with a single aero screen and recorded a two-way average of 132.6mph, hence our headline figure here. Even in The Motor's impartial hands, the first prototype XK120 accelerated from 0-60mph in 10 secs and hit 124.6mph with its hood and side screens in place.