24h Le Mans
The going prices for collection cars keep increasing, as evidenced by the recent auctions at Monterey Car Week in California. While the Porsche 956 overall winner at the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans 1983 went for nearly 10 million euros, the Jaguar Type C fourth in 1953 totally eclipsed it.
13,200,000 dollars! That is the amount the new owner of the Jaguar Type C had to shell out for the beautiful British car restored to its former glory when it took the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1953. Estimated between nine and 12 million dollars, the RM Auctions-Sotheby auction skyrocketed for the car whose XKC 052 chassis was one of three specially constructed in lightweight alloy by the British manufacturer for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Though these days Jaguar has no presence in endurance, in the 1950s the British marque was racking up the wins with no less than five victories in seven editions at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jaguar's first win dates back to 1951, the year of the very first official entry of the C-Type, still called the XK120-C (C for Competition).
The previous year, three Jaguars took the start, but they were entered by private teams. These respectable results compelled the heads of the British marque to develop a competition version the chassis of which carried only a passing resemblance to the road model.
At the start of the 21st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Jaguar - introducing disc brakes - Ferrari and Alfa Romeo were the clear favourites. Nonetheless, early on Sunday the latter had disappeared and only one Ferrari representative remained while the Brits were in the lead. At the finish line, only one Cunningham, in third place, prevented Jaguar from scoring a one-two-three, the No. 19 XKC 052 chassis of Peter Whitehead, one of the first winners for Jaguar in 1951, and Ian Stewart finished fourth.
Despite the win for the Type C in 1953, Jaguar decided to develop a new car to be called, no surprise, Type D. Released in 1954, it won its first victory at Le Mans in 1955 and amassed the most impressive record of all the cars entered in competiton by Jaguar...
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt /ACO
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, JUNE 13-14 1953. A car identical to the winning No. 18 Jaguar Type C was auctioned off last week.
