When it comes to Jaguar real estate stakes in the brains of most people, the iconic E-Type it usually has the largest and most showy properties. But for those who know it, there is an older area so full of charm and engine history and metal curves that is worth visiting: the C-Type. Jaguar has just announced it build new and old type C as part of its continuation program. Although I will never be rich enough to afford one I spent some time in a type C and I can say it honestly it absolutely deserves this rebirth.
The original Type Cs were built for racing between 1951 and 1953, and the intuitive, perhaps mathematically unverifiable, shape of Malcolm Sayer’s aerodynamic shape is just an absolute marvel of what makes British racing cars mid-century be so wonderful.
It’s a quick, happy bathtub of a car, the kind of things you want to happen until the people around you start to feel uncomfortable and someone who still cares about you whispers that maybe you should cool it down.
The car is clearly a machine to compete and the interior absolutely reflects it; it’s almost a steering wheelless machine, all bare metal and exposed parts, and can be seen in Jaguar’s online configurator for cars which, even if you can choose your leather upholstery color, is still a shitty experience:
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These new Continuation cars are built from archived blueprints and three-dimensional scans of surviving cars and, at the same time, using modern techniques and methods and tolerances, and all this, are very much the original car.
It seems that Jaguar is also coming out with colors, which is great:
The engine is also cheerfully old: it has a horsepower of 220 horsepower, 3.4 liters in line of six triple Weber 40DCO3 carbohydrates. Carburetors! In a car that was built in 2021! Damn it!
The C-Type was one of the first to adopt disc brakes, so they will have these and, unlike the original cars, will have a harness retention system approved by the FIA, which is a big step over the one I co-led at the Mille Miglia a few years ago, when the car owner suggested I not even bother with seat belts as he thought just being kicked out of the car would be a better plan.
You can even specify round numbers, which makes sense, as most of these will likely be purchased for track use and will be eligible for most historical race and track events.
Jaguar has not yet given a price, but other cars in the Jaguar Continuation series tend to sell for between one and three million dollars, which is a lot of dollars. If you are loaded and want to buy some kind of impractical car, why not one of these? Get something carbureted!
If like most of us you are not loaded, the online configurator is free, at least.