The Jaguar D-Type OKV 2 might be considered more of a legend than a collector’s car – but now it’s up for sale again. Sothebys will auction the car at the Arizona Concours in January, where it is expected to fetch US$15 million.
OKV 2 was the second D-Type iteration from the Jaguar factory back in 1954 and was prepared as the company’s lead car for that year’s Le Mans 24-hour classic.
Stirling Moss and his co-driver Peter Walker quickly exploited its potential, setting a record speed of 172.97mph (280km/h) on the 6km-long Mulsanne Straight. But fuel problems forced OKV 2 out of the race.
After LeMans, OKV 2 was the factory test car for Jaguar’s chief development engineer Norman Dewis, but it was still raced in the UK and Europe until being sold to Canada in 1960.
It went back and forth from the UK to North America before being put into storage, where it sat for 17 years. It sold again through the ‘80s and ‘90s before being bought in 1999 by American Terry Larson.
Larson put more than 32,000km on the car over the next 12 years, including driving it twice to the annual Monterey classic get-together so Norman Dewis could be reunited with it.
Larson sold OKV 2 in 2011 to the current owner, who has raced it in historic events. Let the accompanying pictures tell the story.
