When it comes to Jaguar real estate in the minds of most people, iconic E-Type tends to have the largest, most spectacular properties. But for those who know, there is an older area, so full of charm and history of motor sports and metal curves that is worth visiting: C-Type. Jaguar has just announced that it will do so build new, old C-Types as part of their Continuation program. Although I will never be rich enough to afford one, I spent some time in a C-Type and I can honestly say it it absolutely deserves this rebirth.
The original Type Cs were built for racing between 1951 and 1953, and Malcolm Sayer’s intuitive, if not mathematically verifiable, shape is just an absolute marvel of what makes mid-century British racing cars so wonderful.
It’s a curved, feline, fast tub of a car, the kind of thing you want to get through until the people around you start to feel very uncomfortable and someone who still cares about you whispers that maybe they should. you’re already cold.
The car is clearly a racing car, and the interior absolutely reflects this; it is very much a car without leaves, all the bare metals and exposed parts, and you can see in the Jaguar online car configurator that, while choosing the color of the leather upholstery, it is still an experience without nonsense:
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These new Continuation machines are built from archived plans and three-dimensional scans of surviving machines and, while they use modern techniques and methods and tolerances and all this is very much the original car.
Jaguar also seems to go with colors, which is great:
The engine is also cheerful old-school: it has a power of 220 horsepower, 3.4 liters in line-six with triple Weber 40DCO3 carbohydrates. Carburetors! In a car built in 2021! Damn hot!
C-Type was an early adopter of disc brakes, so they will have those and, unlike the original cars, they will have the optional “FIA-approved wiring retention system”, which is a huge step compared to one I drove in Mille Miglia a few years ago, when the car owner suggested to me that I didn’t even bother with seat belts, since he realized that just being thrown out of the car would be a better plan.
You can even specify the number of rounds, which is logical, as most will probably be purchased for track use and will be eligible for most historical racing 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 means a lot of dollars. If you are loaded and want to buy some kind of impractical car, why not one of them? Get some carburetor!
If like most of us you’re not loaded, the online configurator is free, at least.