As if carmakers don't make enough money from their current offerings, a number of legacy automakers have turned their attention to continuation cars, or modern recreations of noteworthy classics. Aston Martin even made a continuation of a film icon in the DB5, but it's not the only British automaker with historically significant classics.
Right at the beginning of this year, we learned that Jaguar Classic would be bringing its beautiful C-Type back to life. If your hair has no signs of graying, you may never have heard of it, but it's from a time when Jaguar took motorsport seriously. In fact, the C-Type won the 1953 edition of Le Mans. Revealed in 1951, 2021 is the car's 70th anniversary year, and the new/old car is now to be officially unveiled to the public.
The C-Type continuation car will be revealed in the metal at the Hampton Court Palace Concours of Elegance in England, taking place this weekend, from September 3-5. Jaguar Classic has not announced how many of these will be built, only that production is in a "limited run", although the original only saw 53 examples ever made.
These cars were built in a time before it was economically viable for manufacturers to keep an original model to themselves, and carmakers of the time did not have access to the cloud to save documents on their builds either. Furthermore, nobody could have guessed how special the C-Type would be to enthusiasts all these years later. What this means is that using the same build techniques as the original was a real challenge for Jaguar Classic.
It took two years of data compilation, searching for the few available original documents and drawings and digitising them to apply the specifications of the original to the reborn cars. Luckily, the late Norman Dewis OBE, a former test driver and engineer for Jaguar, provided guidance on the build process. An original C-Type, designer Malcolm Sayer's notes, and some photographs helped the team make this a 100% accurate recreation.
Under the hood, a 3.4-liter straight-six with triple Weber carburetors produces 220 horsepower, while innovative-for-the-era disc brakes are also reintroduced here. The engine alone takes nine months to build, but Jag fanatics will likely geek out more over the Plessey hydraulic pump on the gearbox, the original-spec clocks and gauges, and the precisely reengineered ignition switch. Even the water-based paint (available in 12 colors including the pictured Suede Green) is like the original.
Jaguar Classic hasn't announced pricing, but you can bet that these will each cost more than a new F-Type.