Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works, based in Warwickshire, is producing 25 ‘new’ examples of the iconic car to the exact standards from when it first entered production in 1954.
Jaguar originally planned to build 100 D-Types, but only 75 were completed. The next 25 will fulfil the production run.
The D-Type is best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans race three times between 1955 and 1957, and these new cars will be created to authentic, original specification of the road-going vehicle.
Jaguar Classic will hand-produce both the 1955 Shortnose and 1956 Longnose bodywork versions of the vehicle at its factory in Coventry, allowing customers to choose their preferred body-style.
The first ‘new’ D-Type – an engineering prototype in Longnose spec – was showcased at the Salon Retromobile in Paris on Wedesday.
Jaguar Land Rover Classic director Tim Hannig said: ‘The Jaguar D-type is one of the most iconic and beautiful competition cars of all time, with an outstanding record in the world’s toughest motor races. And it’s just as spectacular today.
‘The opportunity to continue the D-type’s success story, by completing its planned production run in Coventry, is one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects that our world-class experts at Jaguar Land Rover Classic are proud to fulfil.’
The D-type is the third continuation vehicle revived by Jaguar Classic, following six ‘missing’ Lightweight E-types built in 2014-15 and nine XKSSs built in 2017-18.
Kev Riches, engineering manager for the firm, said: ‘Recreating the nine D-type-derived XKSSs was hugely satisfying, and an even bigger technical challenge than the six missing Lightweight E-types, but lessons learned from the XKSS project have given us a head start on the final 25 D-types.
‘Each one will be absolutely correct, down to the very last detail, just as Jaguar’s competitions department intended.’
Jaguar has not confirmed a price for the D-Type, but an original 1955 Le Mans’ winning example sold at auction for around £15.6 million in 2016.
