Most people walking past this car at a concours event would probably mistake it for a vintage Maserati or Alfa Romeo. That’s exactly what makes this Jaguar so fascinating and why collectors are suddenly paying close attention again.
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A one-of-four 1956 Jaguar XK140 SE Ghia once owned by actor Ricardo Montalbán is heading back to auction, and the story behind the car is almost stranger than the machine itself. This wasn’t a normal Jaguar built for mass production. It was part of a bizarre mid-1950s experiment where Jaguar handed bare rolling chassis to Italian coachbuilders and essentially let them create something completely different.
The result was one of the wildest Jaguars ever made.
Now the final Ghia-built example from that tiny run is set to cross the block at Mecum’s massive Indy 2026 sale in Indianapolis on May 16, where the car is expected to draw serious attention from collectors chasing rare European coachbuilt machines. With celebrity ownership, concours history, and an unmistakable design that barely resembles a Jaguar at all, this car sits in a category that modern automakers simply don’t create anymore.
Jaguar Took a Risk Few Automakers Would Attempt Today
Back in 1955, Jaguar was riding high with the success of the XK line and the company’s dominance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Instead of sticking to predictable production models, Jaguar experimented with offering stripped-down XK140 rolling chassis to European coachbuilders.
Only 10 were supplied.
Four of those chassis ended up at Carrozzeria Ghia in Turin, where designer Giovanni Savonuzzi reportedly developed a completely unique body for the platform. Ghia shaped the car from aluminum and gave it styling that looked more like a Jet Age concept than a traditional British sports car.
That’s where things change.
The XK140 already represented an improvement over the earlier XK120, but Ghia’s interpretation turned the car into something far more exotic. The body featured dramatic tail fins, a tall glass-heavy cabin, a stretched hood, and sleek proportions that looked years ahead of many production cars of the era.
Even today, it barely looks connected to Jaguar.
Hollywood Ownership Made the Car Even More Unusual
This particular 1956 example was reportedly delivered to R.W. Martin of La Jolla, California, through Los Angeles distributor Hornburg. It later found its way to Broadway director and Tony Award winner Gower Champion, who reportedly kept the car for nearly 10 years.
Then came the ownership chapter that transformed the Jaguar into something bigger than just a rare collector car.
In 1967, Ricardo Montalbán acquired the XK140 SE Ghia. Long before many younger enthusiasts knew him from Fantasy Island reruns, Montalbán had already built a strong Hollywood profile and later became closely associated with Chrysler through years of television advertising work promoting the Chrysler Cordoba.
There are reportedly numerous photographs showing Montalbán with the Jaguar around Los Angeles. He apparently enjoyed the fact that almost nobody could identify the car correctly.
Honestly, it’s easy to understand why.
Even experienced enthusiasts would struggle to connect the styling to Jaguar without looking closely. The usual Jaguar design language is mostly absent. The clues are subtle, and that detail matters.
There’s Jaguar lettering on the trunk lid, a growler badge on the nose, and Jaguar knock-off wheel spinners. Careful observers can also spot traces of the original XK140 grille shape hidden inside Ghia’s redesigned front fascia. Beyond that, the Italian styling completely overwhelms the British roots underneath.
This Wasn’t Just About Looks
Underneath the dramatic bodywork sat the upgraded XK140 mechanical package Jaguar introduced in 1955. The car used a 3.4-liter inline-six producing 210 horsepower, enough for a top speed around 125 mph and a zero-to-60 time of roughly 8.4 seconds.
Those were serious numbers for the period.
But Ghia’s aluminum body likely made the car even quicker than the standard steel-bodied XK140. The lighter construction reportedly cut as much as 220 pounds compared to the factory shell, giving the car better performance while also sharpening handling response.
Jaguar had also improved braking and steering on the XK140 compared to the older XK120. The newer rack-and-pinion setup replaced the earlier recirculating ball steering system, helping modernize the car’s road manners at a time when sports cars were rapidly evolving.
This wasn’t some static styling exercise sitting under lights at an auto show. It was still a legitimate performance car underneath the custom coachbuilt skin.
The Collector Market Keeps Pushing Cars Like This Higher
By the early 1990s, the Jaguar had entered the famous Blackhawk Collection in Danville, California, under collector Don Williams. During that period, the car underwent a major restoration and appeared at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in both 1992 and 1996.
The restoration appears to have held up remarkably well.
Today, the Jaguar reportedly still presents almost exactly as it did after leaving the Blackhawk restoration shop. The engine bay remains immaculate, while the interior features reupholstered tan leather paired with brown wool carpeting edged in tan leather piping.
The car still retains its yellow Marchal headlamps, though the hood intake is believed to have been added sometime during the 1960s.
This is where the market story becomes interesting.
The Jaguar resurfaced publicly in 2022 during RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction, where it sold for $335,000. Now Mecum is offering the car again as part of a highly visible 41-car collection from the secretive M Group based in Burlington, Washington.
Mecum is not attaching an official estimate because the sale is being conducted without reserve, but expectations reportedly place the car somewhere in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.
That’s a significant jump in a relatively short period of time.
Why Enthusiasts Actually Care About Cars Like This
Modern performance cars are faster than ever. They’re more reliable, safer, and packed with technology. But cars like this Jaguar remind enthusiasts of a period when automakers still took creative risks that bordered on irrational.
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No modern manufacturer is sending bare chassis to Italian coachbuilders today and allowing them to reinvent an entire car from scratch. Corporate oversight, regulations, production economics, and branding departments killed that era decades ago.
That’s part of what makes this Jaguar feel important beyond its celebrity ownership.
It represents a time when Jaguar was willing to experiment while sitting at the top of the motorsports world. It also reflects an era when coachbuilders could completely transform an automaker’s identity into something wildly personal and almost impossible to duplicate.
And now one of the rarest examples of that entire period is heading back under the auction lights again.
For collectors, the appeal is obvious. For enthusiasts, though, this Jaguar tells a bigger story about what the automotive industry used to be before everything became safer, more corporate, and far more predictable.
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