Just saw this pic on twitter of a 1950 XK120 OTS and a couple of details caught my eye.
The taillight housings are body colour and the exhaust is mounted in the body.
Unique at all?
From twitter - https://x.com/windtunnelguy/status/1786451707406213269?s=46&t=pnJguywpiDN514iyCqvH9w
Jason:
Body colour tail light housings are not particularly unique on early cars, I note this one has the front wing vents (introduced Feb. 1951). See photos of Rob Reilly’s FHC on this Forum for example. Also, I have seen the tail pipe exiting through the rear wing before, although to my knowledge it was not a factory option.
Chris.
Yes, the wing vents belie the assertion that it is a 1950 car. Also, painted taillights and seat frames were used in late '51 to early '52, ostensibly because of a chrome shortage caused by the Korean war. On the other hand, the owner could have just painted them white because he liked the look. After all, he went to the trouble of poking a hole in his left rear fender for the exhaust.
Sharp eyes, Jason.
Yep, my Nov '51 car has painted tail lights. When I stripped off two different shades of old red I found the original pastel green metallic underneath, and no chrome under that.
This is from a 1951 Lucas catalogue.
669002 LWK 707 the Montlhery car also has them.
A few Mark VIIs too.
But it’s rare to see a restored car with them. Most restorers seem to prefer chrome over authentic originality.
Tailpipe through the fender was a popular hot rodder thing in California. Many American cars had it. This guy did two of them.
