We are excited to announce an incredible highlight set to lead not only RM Sotheby’s Arizona auction, but the entire Arizona car week – a 1954 Jaguar D-Type Works, chassis no. XKD 403 (registration mark OKV2).
The third of just six Works D-Types to come out of Jaguar’s Coventry factory in 1954, OKV 2 was Jaguar’s designated lead team car for Le Mans that year, piloted by none other than Sir Stirling Moss and Peter Walker. The car led the race and set a new speed record of 172.97 mph on the Mulsanne straight before retiring with brake problems just after midnight. Throughout 1954 OKV 2 went on to contest Reims, also at the hands of Moss/Walker, and the Dundrod Tourist Trophy with drivers Peter Whitehead and Ken Wharton – where it secured Fifth overall. By late November 1954, the car had been fitted with a 3.4-Litre engine and was used for testing by legendary chief factory test driver Norman Dewis.
In 1955, the D-Type was sold to Jack Broadhead to be raced by Bob Berry – the privateer team was referred to as “Ecurie Broadhead”. Following a documented factory rebuilt in 1956 after the car was damaged at Goodwood, Broadhead continued to campaign the car at numerous events throughout the 1950s, including at Goodwood, Oulton Park, Aintree, Silverstone and more, at the hands of some of the most capable drivers of the period, including Bob Berry, Peter Blond, Ron Flockhart, Jack Fairman, Ivor Bueb, and Reg Harris. All told, OKV 2 was one of the most actively raced D-Types of the 1950s, driven at one point or another by some of the most hallowed names in racing, which also include Hawthorn, Sanderson, Stewart, Titterington, and Beauman. It is this D-Type that cemented the foundation of Jaguar’s immense success at Le Mans in the ensuing years. XKD 403 was the team’s workhorse as well as their testbed for continuous technological development. The D-Type pushed not only Jaguar, but also their competitors, to the very limit of racing—it is the veritable cornerstone of Jaguar’s racing history.
Following nearly two decades in storage, OKV 2 landed with Lynx in the early 1980s, who restored the car, retaining all of its metal panels. While in the U.K., the D-Type was taken on the Jaguar factory cavalcades to Le Mans in both 1996 and 1997, before it was sold to its first American owner in 1999. The car has since participated in numerous vintage events, including the Goodwood Revival, Colorado Grand, California Mille, Copperstate 1000, Monterey Historics, and numerous Jaguar Club of North America events.
OKV 2 has been in its current ownership since 2009 and is offered for public sale for the very first time at RM Sotheby’s Arizona sale. Presented with an exhaustively documented and continuous history from the moment it left the factory, OKV 2 remains one of the most raced and most original D-Types in existence, retaining its factory tub, chassis, drivetrain, and suspension. The Moss 1954 Le Mans entrant would crown nearly any automobile collection, commanding the attention of Coventry enthusiasts and sports cr aficionados worldwide. For further information or to view a frequently updated list of entries for our upcoming Arizona sale, please visit www.rmsothebys.com.
