1952 Jaguar C-Type heading for auction – should fetch £5 million

A 1952 Jaguar C-Type, one of just 53 built and the first C-Type in the USA, is up for auction in New York and expected to fetch around £5,000,000.

The Jaguar C-Type is a legendary Jaguar race car from the 1950s with just 53 ever built, between 1951 and 1953, and just 43 of those sold to private owners.

Using the underpinnings of the XK120, it had power boosted to over 200bhp and an achingly beautiful and simple body, designed by Malcolm Sayer, which covered a lightweight tubular frame. In 1951 it became the first British car to win Le Mans in more than 20 years.

This particular C-Type – chassis XKC 007 – is thought to be the first to head to the US and delivered to a US Jaguar dealership which used it for competition and promotion.

It’s racing life began at Elkhart Lake in 1952, in the hands of Phil Hill, and has since been through a succession of owners who raced the car, including an outing at the Mille Miglia in 2010.

This C-Type is reckoned to be the best there is outside Jaguar’s own collection, and has an estimate of $5,500,000 – $7,000,000.

Also at RM Sotheby’s New York Sale on 6 December will be, amongst otghers, an alloy-bodied Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider, from the same collection as the C-Type, expected to fetch around £12 million, an F40, a Huayra, a LaFerrari and a Chiron.