An unusual case, today's subject, is a set of three Jaguars styled by the prolific Giovanni Michelotti (1921-1980, Wikiperia entry here). The carrozziera building the bodies was Stabilimeni Farina.
The work was done in 1952. The three Jaguar designs were named "Meteor," "Golden Arrow" and "Flying Jaguar." Here is some background from the carrozzieri-italiani.com site -- commentary from different pages:
"The Meteor was based on the Jaguar MK VII chassis, a luxury saloon platform that provided a solid foundation for Farina’s elegant and aerodynamic design. Alongside the Meteor, Stabilimenti Farina also created two other exclusive Jaguar models: the Golden Arrow and the Flying Jaguar. The Golden Arrow was essentially a convertible version of the Meteor, sharing the MK VII chassis but featuring an open-top design that gave it a more stylish and grand touring appeal. The third model, the Flying Jaguar, was built on the Jaguar XK 120 chassis, a sports car platform known for its performance and agility."
"These bespoke cars were commissioned by the Brussels Jaguar dealer, who sought to combine Jaguar’s engineering excellence with Farina’s distinctive Italian design. Today, all three cars; the Golden Arrow, Meteor, and Flying Jaguar; still exist, each a testament to the collaboration between Jaguar and Stabilimenti Farina."
Comparisons of the production and custom designs are below.
The customized Mark VIIs are identical aside from their tops, as would be the case if they were production models.
Production Mk VIIs were sedans (saloons), so the cabriolet and coupé body styles on this platform were speculative, perhaps prospective supplements to the basic Mark VIIs sold by the Belgian dealer.
Side view of the Coupé -- compare to the Mk VII below.
The Jaguar design combines prewar, traditional English styling touches with postwar elements -- the flow-through fenders seen here. Michelotti's design is classic 1950-vintage Italian, though built on a larger platform than usual.
Simple shapes, subtly thought out. The blue car in the background is a Bentley Continental, a contemporary.
Again, the considerably different character of the production Jaguar.
Now for the "Flying Jaguar" based on the classic XK120. Its design strongly echoes elements of the sedan-based customs. For instance, compare the front ends.
XK120 coupés first appeared in model year 1951, and this was the design Michelotti was commissioned to alter.
Although proportions differ, the fenderline here closely resembles those on the sedan-based customs. A noticeable difference is the placement of the side chrome strip.
Despite -- because of? -- the passenger greenhouse, the XK120 seems to be a more interesting design than Michelotti's clean, classic Italian version.
Rear end closely matches that of the black coupé shown earlier.
Yes, the Jag design looks pretty fussy when seen from this perspective.
An interesting feature of the Michelotti cars is that the designs are so similar, even though two platforms were used. Was this a specification given to Michelotti? Or did Michelotti decide to economize his workload by coming up with one theme to apply to all three cars? I wonder if some documentation regarding this still exists.
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