While it’s not exactly as famous as the Jaguar E-Type — no Jag is — the D-Type is still regarded as one of the most iconic Jaguars in history. Only 75 D-Type units were built in the late 1950s after Jaguar initially planned to build 100 units. Apparently, Jag’s failure to reach its intended goal has gnawed at the company for years. Well, Jag’s finally doing something to address that by announcing plans to build the last 25 units of the D-Type. This is not a drill, folks. Jaguar really is going to build the last 25 units of the iconic race car, completing what it should’ve done 60 years ago.

Raise your hands if you saw this one coming? I’m well aware of the existence of JLR Classic Works and the kinds of projects it's worked on over the years. This is the same JLR division that built six Lightweight E-Type models back in 2014. It’s also the same company that produced nine units of the Jag XKSS in 2016, rebuilt early Range Rovers, and rebuild the E-Type Series 1. In some ways, this isn’t a surprising move from Jaguar.

But I still can’t wrap my head around Jaguar’s plan to complete the production run of the D-Type 60 years after it was supposed to. There’s something unnerving about it, especially when you consider that the D-Type’s provenance — it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three years in a row, from 1955 to 1957 — has helped elevate the race car’s price in the safe zone of nine figures. In fact, the same D-Type that won the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans actually went for a staggering $21.78 million.

The opportunity to complete the planned production run, though, was too good to pass up. “Completing its planned production run in Coventry, is one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects that our world-class experts at Jaguar Land Rover Classic are proud to fulfill," Tim Hannig, Jaguar Land Rover Classic Director, said.

It’s unclear how Jaguar Classic plans to proceed with the development of the 25 remaining D-Types. Are they going to be built using period-specific parts, or is Jaguar Classic going to adopt a more modern approach to their production? This is one of many questions that we need answers too, though we do know now that the people who will be tasked to recreate the D-Types will have access to the company's original engineering drawings and records so that the vehicles will be as authentic as possible. Interested buyers will get a chance to choose between a short D-Type nose or the long-nose version of the original model.

Regardless of what happens with this build, you can expect this “new” old D-Types to e the toast of the town when they make their debut in the future. A lot of people are already losing their minds over this, and we still know next-to-nothing about it. Imagine the kind of reaction Jaguar will get when the last 25 D-Types are finally built.

References

Jaguar D-Type

Read our full review on the 1954-1957 Jaguar D-Type.