The XKSS is based on the iconic D-Type Le Mans winner (Steve Lagreca/Bigstock.com)

Jaguar is to build nine examples of its famous 1957 XKSS sports car, each of which is expected to sell for more than £1m.

The XKSS is the road version of the Le Mans winning D-Type racer. 25 road legal examples of the XKSS were originally planned in the '50s, but only 16 were completed due to a factory fire in Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant.

The original D-Type won the Le Mans race successively from 1955 to 1957.

The then-boss of Jaguar, Sir William Lyons, decided to convert 25 remaining D-types – which had become obsolete as racing cars – into road cars for the public. The modified cars featured an additional passenger door and a larger windscreen. The racer’s iconic aerodynamic fin was removed, as was a section of bodywork separating driver and passenger.

The nine new cars will be hand-built at Jaguar Classic’s new Experimental Shop in Warwick and will be delivered to customers by 2017.

Original blueprints will be used to construct the cars, which, according to Jaguar, will be sold to “a select group of established collectors and customers”.

Tony O’Keeffe of Jaguar Land Rover Classic commented: “A number of continuation XKSS cars have been sold already, more than half, but we wanted to ensure some cars were made available to the public.”

The few remaining original cars rarely go to auction. According to O'Keefe, one example of the XKSS is presently available to buy for $18 million (£12.7 million).

Jaguar refers to the project as a 'continuation' production run, and follows the series of six Lightweight E-Type racers built in 2014. The E-Types were built to complete an original 1963 production run of 18 – of which only 12 were ever completed.

The aims of the XKSS project are based on the same premise.

Like the E-Types, the new examples of the XKSS are expected to be sold before production gets underway.