1956 'Jaguar XKSS' Scale Model

“ This is a stunning hand-built all-alloy model built to faithfully replicate the famous Steve McQueen car, in miniature size. ”
Being offered as part of our curated auction in conjunction with the Jaguar Drivers' Club and their 70th Anniversary at Brooklands on Sunday 12th July 2026.

Background
On the 12th of February 1957 a fire in Jaguar’s Browns Lane Factory destroyed nine North American-spec XKSS sportscars.

Luckily, the firm had already built 16, one of which was to find its way into the hands of a Hollywood actor called Steve McQueen.

Thus, are legends born.

Jaguar, scrabbling around for cash after splurging it all at Le Mans, had decided the best way to use up the remaining 25 unused D-Type chassis it had lying around was to build a road-legal sportscar. 

It turned a Le Mans-winning racing car into something you could drive to work in by fitting a full-width windscreen, rudimentary lighting, two seats, front and rear bumpers, a token exhaust system, and by replacing the iconic  ‘dorsal fin’ with a luggage rack before calling it good.

All were finished in Sherwood Green, although McQueen, whose then-wife Neile Adams paid just $5,000 for it, the equivalent of around £33,000 today, repainted his in a darker shade of green, earning it the nickname Green Rat. 

He also had a lockable glovebox fitted as part of a retrim that saw it finished in black leather: Already considered to be a very stylish man indeed, the XKSS crowned him the King of Cool.

He was also a talented racing driver who had no qualms about exercising the 3.4-litre straight-six engine on public roads. In fact, the local sheriff was so incensed by his speeding that he is said to have offered his officers “an expensive steak dinner” if they managed to catch him and issue a ticket.

Obviously, the reward went unclaimed. 

He never sold the Green Rat, and it went to a neighbour of his in 1986 for the equivalent of a quarter-of-a-million pounds. Fully restored, it’s now in the Peterson Museum and is unlikely to ever come to market. 

Given a ‘standard’ XKSS is now worth in excess of £10,000,000, and even factory continuation cars are nudging £1,500,000, we suspect that if the Green Rat ever did come to auction the hammer would fall at a new world record for the marque.

Fear not though, because we have a far more cost-effective solution for you.

Overview
Being offered with a guide price of around one percent of what it would cost to put a continuation car in your garage, ‘JNH 809’ – and yes, that is the British registration number that as issued to McQueen’s XKSS – is a half-scale replica of the actor’s car.

Built by one of the seller’s friends over many hundreds of hours and constructed of aluminium over a wooden buck, it would be easy to mistake this for the real thing were it not for its diminutive size.

With an incredible attention to detail, it can even be driven thanks to the presence of an all-electric drivetrain that moves the iconic Jaguar in the same direction as you push the gear-lever.

Estimate: £15,000 - £20,000

View Current Bid Price HERE