Did you know this beast from the 1950s was faster than a lot of cars today?

This is the Jaguar XK120M, a limited-edition high-performance 1950s car that’s faster than most cars today.

It was designed as a performance-focused variant of the regular XK120, and it’s nigh on impossible to find one in good condition today.

And it’s easy to see why.

Even now, it would leave a lot of modern cars for dead in terms of performance figures.

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The original Jaguar XK120, pictured below, was introduced in 1948 and remained in production for a few years.

In the early 1950s, the British automaker unveiled some new variants, including the M model, which actually simply stood for ‘Modified’.

The XK120M used the same 3.4-liter straight-six, the same engine that nearly every E-Type uses, as the standard model, but it had more power – 180HP instead of 160.

This 1950s car also came with stiffer suspension and a lot of modifications to make it more aerodynamic.

Jaguar threw a metal cover over the passenger seat, and the car also came with enclosed wheels and a ‘bubble’ cockpit to make it more aerodynamic.

As a result, this car was able to reach top speeds well in excess of 170MPH, which is still impressive today, let alone in 1951.

Just for reference, the vast majority of high-performance vehicles from BMW, Mercedes, and Audi are limited to 155MPH.

The XK120M, which is loosely based on the C-Type, the E-Type’s predecessor, is rare today.

It’s always difficult to know for sure when it comes to vehicles this old, but most sources agree that only 2,500 units were built, and so many of them have either been lost or destroyed.

Today, you’d be lucky if you could find one for less than a quarter of a million dollars.

You can still buy Jaguar XK120M-inspired restomods, but, ironically, those can be even more expensive.