Jaguar C-type (1951 - 1953)

Introduction

Based on the XK120, and initially known as the XK120C the C-type is a racing legend that occupies the all-time Le Mans Hall of Fame. The ingredients were pretty simple, which goes some way to demonstrating how good the original car it was wbased on - the XK120 - was.

The body, styled and engineered by Malcolm Sayer, and was honed with a view to low-drag and a high top speed. It looks similar, but is in fact completely different to the XK120. And as you can see from the weight figures, it's considerably lighter. The C-type had a spaceframe chassis, and suspension was by torsion bars front and rear. The steering was by rack and pinion, and braking was by discs - technology now taken for granted, but pioneering stuff back then.

The C-type’s competition record speaks for itself, with its two victories at Le Mans (1951 and 1953) being the C-type's crowning glory. They rarely come up for sale, and are a bell-weather car that the market is judged by.