§ V.01What a 1949–1954 Jaguar XK120 is worth
A 1949–1954 Jaguar XK120 sold for a median of $80,500 across 269 completed auctions from March 2016 to October 2026 (BidBetter, as of 3 November 2026).
The middle half of those 269 sales fell between $60,000 and $105,000 (the typical range), and the full range after cleaning was $20,000 to $775,000.
Data as of 3 November 2026 · 269 sales · March 2016 to 12 October 2026 · auction results only
§ V.02What moves a car within the band
Within that band, roadster cars are the most frequently traded body style in this set (147 of 269 sales), and manual cars account for 128 of them. Condition, originality and documented history move a car further than any single specification, which is why the middle half of the range is wide.
The spread by variant, printed in full above, is usually wider than the spread by year: a roadster at $85,800 and a convertible at $72,390 are not the same market, and a single median that mixes them describes neither.
§ V.03Recent sales
| Car | Sold for | Date | Mileage | Sold by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster | $90,000 | 12 October 2026 | 67,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster | $70,552 | 8 October 2026 | 100,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster Project | $21,567 | 22 September 2026 | 19,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster | $64,507 | 18 September 2026 | 1,500 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1953 Jaguar XK120 Drophead Coupe | $120,000 | 16 September 2026 | 9 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 350-Powered 1953 Jaguar XK120 Drophead Coupe Project | $20,000 | 1 September 2026 | 44,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| Jaguar C-Type Re-Creation | $155,000 | 28 August 2026 | 121 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster | $45,555 | 24 August 2026 | 65,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 52-Years-Owned 1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster | $38,795 | 23 August 2026 | 70,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1953 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster (PB26) | $61,600 | 14 August 2026 | — | Gooding |
| 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster Chassis no. 670636 Engine no. W1424-8 | $44,800 | 13 August 2026 | — | Bonhams |
| 1954 Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster | $105,000 | 12 August 2026 | 63,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 45-Years-Owned 1953 Jaguar XK120 Fixed Head Coupe 4-Speed | $81,500 | 6 August 2026 | 12,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 3.8L-Powered 1952 Jaguar XK120 Roadster 5-Speed | $75,000 | 13 July 2026 | 4,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
| 1954 Jaguar XK120 Roadster | $87,000 | 8 June 2026 | 90,000 mi | Bring a Trailer |
§ V.04Price by model year
| Model year | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | $257,600 | 7 |
| 1950 | $114,150 | 24 |
| 1951 | $70,120 | 27 |
| 1952 | $73,960 | 62 |
| 1953 | $80,250 | 86 |
| 1954 | $85,555 | 63 |
§ V.05Price by body style and transmission
| Variant | Type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadster | Body style | $85,800 | 147 |
| Coupe | Body style | $75,000 | 67 |
| Convertible | Body style | $72,390 | 51 |
| Manual | Transmission | $78,200 | 128 |
§ V.06Questions
What is a 1949–1954 Jaguar XK120 worth?
A 1949–1954 Jaguar XK120 sold for a median of $80,500 across 269 completed auctions from March 2016 to October 2026 (BidBetter, as of 3 November 2026).
The middle half of those 269 sales fell between $60,000 and $105,000 (the typical range), and the full range after cleaning was $20,000 to $775,000.
What affects the price of a 1949–1954 Jaguar XK120?
Model year: by year, medians run from $70,120 for 1951 (27 sales) to $257,600 for 1949 (7 sales).
Body style: a roadster holds a median of $85,800 on 147 sales, against $72,390 on 51 for a convertible.
Condition, originality and documented history move a car further than any single specification, which is why the middle half of sales spans $60,000 to $105,000.
Is the Jaguar XK120 1949-1954 going up or down in value?
Down. The 30 sales in the 12 months to 3 November 2026 had a median of $61,800, against $80,000 on 33 sales in the 12 months before, a fall of 22.8%. That compares whichever cars came to auction in each year, not the same cars sold twice, so read it as the direction of the market rather than a rate of appreciation.
How many Jaguar XK120 sales is that based on?
269 completed auction sales, from March 2016 to 12 October 2026. The table above lists the 15 most recent, each linked to its auction record. The figures were last rebuilt on 3 November 2026.
What is the difference between the typical range and the full range?
The typical range is $60,000 to $105,000: half of all 269 sales fell inside it. The full range is $20,000 to $775,000, the cheapest and dearest sale that survived cleaning. The full range is set by outliers, so it is a boundary rather than a guide to what most cars bring.
Which body style holds its value best?
On this set, roadster is the most frequently sold at 147 sales with a median of $85,800. The highest median among body styles is roadster at $85,800, though it rests on fewer sales. Each variant's median and count are in the table above.
Do manual or automatic cars sell for more?
In this set, manual cars account for 128 of 269 sales. Too few cars of the other transmission type sold to publish a comparison, so this page does not make one.
Does mileage change the value?
Mileage is recorded for part of this set, not all of it, so it is not used to adjust the median. It is shown in the sales table wherever the auction record carries it, and you can see the effect directly by comparing rows.
How current is this figure?
Data as of . The figures are rebuilt from completed sales on a schedule, and the date above is the date of the last rebuild, not the date this page was loaded.
§ V.07Method and sources
What these figures are. Every number on this page is computed from completed auction sales of Jaguar XK120 cars built between 1949 and 1954. The median is the 50th percentile of the sale prices; the typical range is the 25th to 75th percentile; the full range is the lowest and highest sale that survived cleaning. Percentiles are linearly interpolated on the sorted prices.
What is excluded. Asking prices, reserve-not-met results, withdrawn lots and unsold cars are not prices and are not counted. Parts, memorabilia, literature, scale models and other non-vehicle lots are excluded. Sales not made in US dollars are excluded, so these figures describe the dollar market. Duplicate records are removed. Sales below a plausibility floor (5% of the median) and above a ceiling (10× the median) are set aside, because a $22 "911" is a data error rather than a cheap car.
What was set aside. The highest recorded sale in this set is $3,635,000 (1952 Jaguar C-Type, 16 August 2025), and 2 sales above $805,700 are held out of the median and the ranges: at that price the lot is a different asset, and including it would pull the headline figure away from what a typical car brings.
What it is not. This is not an appraisal or an inspection, and it does not predict what any particular car will bring. Two cars built the same year can differ by more than the whole typical range on condition, originality, documentation and provenance.
The set. 269 sales from March 2016 to 12 October 2026, drawn from 8 auction sources, principally Bring a Trailer (155), Bonhams (37), RM Sotheby's (31), Gooding (16), Barrett-Jackson (13), Broad Arrow (10), Hagerty (5), Hemmings (2). Data as of .
See the disclaimer for the limits of a valuation of this kind.
§ V.08Compare with
- Jaguar E-Type Series 3 V12 1971-1974 — $66,500 median · 329 sales · as of 3 November 2026
- Jaguar XJS 1976-1996 — $9,700 median · 333 sales · as of 3 November 2026
- Jaguar F-Type 2014-2024 — $43,500 median · 370 sales · as of 3 November 2026
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