Keith Helfet

British Jaguar designer, born in South Africa, who styled the XJ220 concept shown at the 1988 British Motor Show and approved for production in December 1989.

Keith Helfet was born in June 1946 and grew up in Pinelands, a Cape Town suburb. After school he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Cape Town, then built a new body for a Triumph Spitfire from foam offcuts and plaster of Paris rather than drawings. In 1975 he went to London for the Royal College of Art car-design course, one of five places that year. He joined Jaguar in 1978.

Jaguar’s styling studio had formerly been the race shop that built the C-type and D-type. His renderings for the XJ41 sports car were selected from competing schemes after chief engineer Jim Randle proposed a second project beside the XJ40. From some time in 1980 until Lyons died in 1985, Helfet worked with the founder each week. The project continued after Jaguar became independent and was cancelled under Ford ownership; Helfet later said he had spent nine years on it.

The XJ220 began as an unofficial out-of-hours Saturday Club project, intended for Group B racing before becoming a road car. Helfet described it as his interpretation of a modern XJ13. Jaguar showed the concept at the 1988 British Motor Show in Birmingham. Its 2012 release identifies Helfet as designer and says production was signed off in December 1989. Helfet said eleven inches were removed before production while the overhangs remained unchanged.