1952 Jaguar Xk120 Roadster - Beautiful, All Numbers Matching And Entirely Solid on 2040-cars

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RM Sotheby's 2015 Monterey auction sets records

RM Sotheby's wrapped up three days of beautiful cars crossing the block during Monterey Car Week with a company record of $172.7 million in vehicles sold. The first day's Pinnacle Portfolio collection alone brought in $75.4 million, a new high for a one-day, single-vendor auction. While nothing ever topped the $17.6 million 1964 Ferrari 250 LM, the hammer continued to fall on some very expensive vehicles each day. Expected to clear over $11 million, the sale of a 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione 'Tour de France' easily managed that with a final price of $13.2 million. Multiple bidders on the phone and in the room desperately wanted this famous racer, and it drove the price up. To make this thoroughbred worth the lavish amount, the coupe won the 1956 Tour de France series of events and was among seven with this body by Scaglietti. Many of the top sellers came from the first night's Pinnacle Portfolio, but records continued to be broken over the weekend. Notably, a 1953 Jaguar C-Type Works Lightweight brought $13.2 million to make it the most expensive Jag ever at auction. Also among RM Sotheby's top sellers were a 1950 Ferrari 275S/340 America Barchetta at $7.975 million and a 1952 Jaguar XK120 Supersonic for $2,062,500. Take a look at a few of these special vehicles in the gallery above. HISTORIC FERRARI 250 GT 'TOUR DE FRANCE' LEADS THIRD NIGHT OF RECORD SALES AT RM SOTHEBY'S MONTEREY World's largest collector car auction house concludes three day event with more than $172.7 million in auction and post-auction sales MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA (August 15, 2015) - A historic 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione 'Tour de France' set a new auction record for the model tonight, selling for an outstanding $13.2 million before another packed house at RM Sotheby's Monterey event. Spurring a lively bidding contest between multiple collectors in the room and on the telephones, the influential Ferrari is the actual car that instituted the 'Tour de France' nomenclature following its overall victory at that legendary race in 1956. The fifth of only seven Scaglietti-bodied first-series competition berlinettas, it was sold new to the Marquis Alfonso de Portago, the flamboyant and daring Spanish driver, who, joined by his close friend Ed Nelson, piloted to car to first place overall at the 1956 Tour de France Auto.

Jaguar sends off the F-Type with commemorative 75 model

Jaguar is preparing to send the F-Type to the pantheon of automotive history. It unveiled a commemorative model named F-Type 75 that announces the end of a roughly decade-long production run with a small handful of specific design accents inside and out. Offered as a coupe and as a convertible, the 75 stands out from other members of the range with subtle emblems depicting the F-Type's silhouette positioned behind the front wheel arches. The F-Type 75 ships with 20-inch five-spoke wheels finished in gloss black, while the more powerful F-Type R 75 wears 20-inch, 10-spoke wheels with a gloss black and diamond-turned finish.  Inside, the F-Type's silhouette appears on the piece of trim positioned above the infotainment system's display and on the door sills. Every 75 regardless of body style or output comes with the Interior Black Pack and what Jaguar calls "Performance-design" front seats. While a 75-horsepower bump would have been fitting, Jaguar made no mention of mechanical changes. The four- and six-cylinder engines were dropped for the 2022 model year, so the F-Type will end its career with a V8-only range. Power for the base model comes from a 5.0-liter V8 that's supercharged to 444 horsepower and 429 pound-feet of torque, while the R benefits from an evolution of this engine rated at 575 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. The base F-Type is rear- or all-wheel-drive, while the R is rear-wheel-drive-only. Jaguar will begin delivering the F-Type 75 to customers in England in early 2023 — about 75 years after the XK120 made its debut, hence the name. Pricing and availability haven't been announced yet, and Jaguar confirmed to Autoblog that details about the F-Type 75 that will be sold in the United States will be published in December 2022. The company added that 2024 will be the F-Type's last model year. As for what's next, your guess is as good as ours, but it doesn't sound like a direct successor to the F-Type is around the corner. Featured Gallery Jaguar F-Type 75, official images View 12 Photos Jaguar Convertible Coupe Luxury Performance

Environmental group accuses BMW, JLR of link to deforestation in Paraguay

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Environmental group Earthsight said on Wednesday it has linked some of Europe's largest carmakers to the deforestation of the Chaco, a dry forest region of Paraguay home to jaguars and one of the last uncontacted indigenous groups in the world. The group said in a report that livestock companies have illegally logged lands of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode indigenous ethnic group, some of whose members live in voluntary isolation. The livestock skin is used in leather upholstery of luxury vehicles sold by high-end European auto brands including BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover, the group said. UK-based Earthsight said it had made covert visits to tanneries that bragged about supplying the raw material to the luxury car brands. "BMW is using hides sourced from two slaughterhouses processing cows from ranches responsible for illegal [logging] in the Ayoreo Totobiegosode's forests. Jaguar Land Rover didn't dispute sourcing from a Paraguayan tannery that processes hides from another slaughterhouse doing the same," the report said. Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement to Reuters it had found no evidence to verify Earthsight's claims. It said its European suppliers assured sustainability. "We continue  our drive for further transparency and, in this case, the leather supplier in Europe verifies with each raw material supplier that no rural property that directly supplies it is involved in illegal deforestation," the automaker said. BMW did not respond to a request for comment on the Earthsight investigation. Paraguay exports about 50,000 tons of wet-blue leather (tanned, but not dried, dyed or finished) a year, and almost two-thirds of those shipments are bound for Europe, according to the report. Automakers say that leather is a byproduct of the far larger meat industry and high-end cars constitute a comparatively small market niche. But indigenous leaders say deforestation driven by growth in beef and leather exports is encroaching on their territory and destroying their way of life. "As deforestation advances with extensive cattle ranching, they are being imprisoned, they are disappearing," Taguide Picanerai, a spokesman for the Ayoreo community in the Alto Paraguay department, northwest of Asuncion, told Reuters. The region is home to some of the world's highest rates of deforestation, Earthsight said.   Green BMW Jaguar Land Rover