Notorious Profumo Affair Jaguar XK150 coming up for sale

| 16 Jan 2014

The infamous 'Profumo' Jag, immortalised in a massive political scandal in the 1960s, is coming up for sale.

The white 1959 XK150 drophead – restored in 1990 – belonged to Dr Stephen Ward, who via Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies, was charged with living off the earnings of prostitution after the pillow-talk-based downfall of Secretray of State for War John Profumo in 1963.

The disgraced Profumo lost his job as a result of the scandal, while Ward took his own life before his trial was over.

The case was later made into a 1989 movie, Scandal, in which John Hurt (playing Ward) drove a white XK, and more recently a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The car will be sold at Silverstone Auctions' Race Retro auction on 22-23 February and carries an estimate of £55-65,000.

Silverstone Auctions MD Nick Whale said: “Few Jaguars can boast such a fascinating ownership record and one that seemingly defined the era when it was first driven. Few cars offered at auction have such an amazing connection to such important events in British political history.”

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