The claws must be out at Jaguar. The British car maker has been beaten to the punch by Ecurie Ecosse which announced plans to build a run of C-type continuation cars just last week. Now Jaguar says it will go one better than its Scottish competitor, as it will assemble eight ‘new’ C-types to Ecurie Ecosse’s seven.
The cars will be ready to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Jaguar’s 1953 victory at the Le Mans 24-hour race, and will be replicas of the C-type driven to glory by Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt.
Powered by a 3.4-litre straight-six with 220bhp and fed by triple Weber 40DCO3 carburettors, each car will also use the pioneering disc brakes that helped secure Le Mans glory. The cars will be hand built by Jaguar Classic which has already crafted continuation versions of the Lightweight E-type, XKSS and D-type.
Jaguar wants buyers of the continuation C-types to drive them and will offer FIA-approved harnesses so they can be raced, just like the original cars. Jaguar is planning a “racing-inspired celebration event” for the cars and their owners in 2022. Yet although the company is calling for them to be driven, unlike the Ecurie Ecosse versions Jaguar’s works C-types will not be road legal.
Most of us will only be able to dream of ordering and specifying a new C-type, but Jaguar is helping out with that as well by launching an online configurator. Anyone can choose from 12 exterior colours and eight interior themes, then add optional racing decals and badges to create their purr-fect Jaguar.
