CLASSIC DRIVE
This 1954 XK120 DHC 3.4 was originally owned by French singer Gilbert Bécaud. Repatriated back to the UK in the late Eighties, it’s since been restored twice
THE JAGUAR XK120 might more British than Spotted Dick, reading Shakespeare, or queuing in the rain yet that didn’t stop one of France’s top crooners, Gilbert Bécaud, from buying a drophead coupe in 1954. But with the car being as elegant and stylish as the man himself, he still must have cut quite the dash while his fame and popularity grew throughout the decade.
Born on 24 October, 1927, in Toulon on the French Riviera, Bécaud learned to play the piano at an early age, later studying at the Conservatoire de Nice. Following Germany’s 1940 invasion of his country, he left school two years later to join the French resistance.
Following the war and with his family settling in Paris, he began his career by playing piano in nightclubs. After accompanying Edith Piaf and her husband, the entertainer Jacques Pills, Bécaud’s big moment as a solo artist arrived in February 1954 when he performed at the reopening of Paris’s famous Olympia music hall and was quickly compared to American crooners of the day, Frank Sinatra especially. Due to the electricity of his performance, newspapers dubbed Bécaud “Monsieur 100,000 Volts”, a name that lasted until his death in 2001. Like Elvis or Sinatra for Americans, Bécaud remains as popular as ever in his native country.
A prolific songwriter, his compositions were regularly recorded by others which later included such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and even Elvis Presley.
Fresh from his success at Olympia, in the Spring of 1954 Bécaud ordered a brand new Jaguar XK120 drophead coupe in Pastel Blue with a contrasting blue interior. It’s not known why he bought this most British of cars over something more European especially since the XK120 was already six years old by then. Maybe it was Jaguar’s victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours with a C-Type the year before which had swayed him. Or perhaps he simply liked how luxurious the interior was.
Announced in April 1953, the drophead coupe’s interior was similar to the existing fixed head car and featured a dashboard covered in a rich veneer. A tailored folding roof and fully winding windows meant the weather protection was much more comprehensive compared to the basic provisions of the original open-two-seater.
Coming with the same 3.4-litre XK engine as the other variants, the DHC offered performance similar to the open-two-seater and fixed head coupe. Together with its still beautiful proportions, for many the XK120 drophead coupe represented the perfect compromise between speed and comfort.
“Whereas an open sports mo
