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Jaguar sculpture by RCA design students is a minimal beauty

With its well-deserved reputation for high design, it is not particularly surprising to see Jaguar reaching outside of the automotive realm for future inspiration. To that end, the British automaker recently enlisted the talents of students at the Royal College of Art to create a piece of forward-looking, automotive-inspired sculpture.
The result of this project can be seen above; a sculpture created by RCA students Claire Miller and Ewan Gallimore, and unveiled to a small audience to kick off London's Clerkenwell Design Week. The spare and rather elegant form created by the talented pair absolutely harkens back to coupes from Jaguar's past as well as its present (read: F-Type) without aping any one model particularly.
In a press release, the artists had this to say about the work: "Our form relates to the Jaguar brand through its sculptural volumes, bespoke materials and visual lightness. These elements helped us to create a sculpture that aimed to display a seamless transition between interior and exterior space." Get a better look at the Jaguar artwork in the gallery above, or read through the press release, which follows.

1956 Jaguar D-Type could top $5M at Arizona auction

The Jaguar D-Type is an essential element of the marque's history, one of its most successful racing cars, and one of its most beautiful creations. Chassis number XKD 604, pictured here, was the first of six long-nose Jaguar D-Types made for the factory team in 1956. They were, however, far from ubiquitous, with only 53 made for private customers, and another 18 campaigned by the factory racing team. More advanced than the examples that preceded it, this one was equipped with a de Dion rear suspension and fuel injection. It didn't have much of a distinguished racing career to speak of, passing from the factory to the Ecurie Ecosse team in Scotland which kept it in storage for years. After the team's closing, it passed through the hands of two British owners, undergoing a full restoration at the hands of the latter, before trading between two US owners. Although precise pre-sale estimates are available by request to interested parties, RM confirmed to Autoblog that this example "is expected to fetch more than $5 million when it crosses the auction podium in January." According to Sports Car Market, last year the same auction house sold a customer D-Type in Paris for nearly that much. However at its London auction in 2013, another works example failed to sell despite a high bid of over $6.2 million. If this one takes in more than that, it'll set a record for the type. If classic Jaguars aren't your thing, RM also has lined up an enviable roster of Ferraris. Included among them is a yellow '71 Daytona (estimated to fetch over $700k), a silver '91 Testarossa (~$250k), a rare yellow '95 F512 M (~$450k), and a pristine 2011 599 SA Aperta (~$1.3m). Porsche fans will want to check out the '76 911 Turbo (~$250k) and the soft-window '69 911 S Targa (~$225k). With the auction not set to take place until January 28 at the Arizona Biltmore, you can bet there'll be a good number of additional lots consigned between now and then.

Jaguar sends off XK with limited-run Final 50 edition

The Jaguar XK coupe and convertible are pointed at the production sunset, and the cars that will end their retail lives in the US will be the dubbed the XK Final Fifty Limited Edition. As the name implies there will be fifty of them made, 25 of the fixed-roof variety, 25 of the droptop.
As the name doesn't imply, however, they'll be based on the XKR and be injected with liberal doses of XKR-S and XKR-S GT: the 510-horsepower V8 from the XKR will be mated to normally optional items like the Dynamic and Performance Packs, machined front suspension components from the XKR-S and a 10-millimeter lower ride height, the louvered hood from the XKR-S GT and Vortex 20-inch forged wheels. The sheetmetal gets a bath in Ultimate Black paint "with special trim" and badged door sill plates. Convertibles will come black roofs, but the Performance Active Exhaust will keep you apprised of the 5.0-liter V8 bellows no matter which car you choose.
They'll go into production this summer and hit dealerships in the fall. There's a lengthy press release below with more info on how this cat will sing its swan song.