General Description
The Jaguar XK150 was introduced in the spring of 1957, as a replacement for the XK140 and was available as a fixed and drophead coupe. Whilst the 150 was similar in design to the outgoing model it was considerably more refined. A one-piece windscreen replaced the split screen and the wing line no longer dropped as much over the doors. The bonnet was widened, opened down to the wings and on the roadster, the bulkhead was moved back four inches to make the bonnet longer. In the interior, the XK140’s walnut dashboard was replaced by a leather trimmed unit. The launch specification of the XK 150 included SU carburettors, four-speed manual gearbox with overdrive, independent front suspension with wishbones, coil springs, torsion bars and anti-roll bar, rigid rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes. Jaguar increased the engine power outputs and introduced the optional 150 “S” variants, with the 3.4 S developing 250 bhp enabling it to reach 60mph in just over 7 secs and onto a top speed of just over 135 mph.