"The Jaguar C-Type was one of the most exquisite designs ever penned by Jaguar chief of aerodynamicists, Malcolm Sayer. Designed to conquer Le Mans, with the 1951 race at Le Sarthe proving to be a nail-biting race for Jaguar with unfortunate mechanical failures for chassis 001 (oil feed pipe damage) and 002 (con-rod), however 003 recorded its first victory at Le Mans for Jaguar’s XK120C, recording an average speed of 93mph and proving their reliability and speed. In 1953, the feat was repeated in spades with C-Types coming home in 1st, 2nd and 4th place, helped enormously by the fact that they now had disc brakes on all four wheels. That it was also arrestingly beautiful was just a bonus, a classic example of form following function.
With only 52 ever built it is, unsurprisingly, a hugely sought-after motor car with prices exceeding several million pounds. The high value and rarity of the originals has made way for the toolroom copies, cars built to exacting original specifications using period components and materials.
The car you see before you was built in the mid 1990s and features an extremely accurate, all aluminium, bodyshell. Our vendor believes the chassis to have been one of about twelve built by Autech. This fine example features a 3.8 Litre engine built by Sigma Engineering in 2020 with hardened crank, steel con-rods, forged pistons, flowed XK140 cylinder head with larger inlet valves and fast road Kent billet cams fed by Weber carburettors, on the correct type inlet manifold as is the exhaust manifold, power is estimated to be around 230bhp. The cost of this extensive build was £16,658. The odometer stopped recording some time ago, so the vendor can’t be sure exactly how many miles have been covered since the engine build, but estimates it to be less than one thousand miles. The car also has a limited slip differential (3:31) and an all synchromesh four-speed gearbox, with overdrive.
Our vendor has owned the car since 1998 and has gone to great lengths to ensure that that the car is as authentic as possible. The car is fitted with an aluminium radiator. Note the fly screens which are exact copies of the Jaguar originals. The wheels, including the spare, are original and rare Dunlop aluminium rimmed wheels, with Avon cross ply Turbospeeds, which set the car off perfectly. The interior is also faithful to an original C-Type, with the bonnet release being in the correct position, the correct instrumentation, mounted on a ‘high’ dash and silver hardura trim. The pedals are also correctly floor mounted, and the pedal box has been lengthened to give extra legroom.
The car was resprayed in 2022 and thus presents wonderfully.
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