1990 Jaguar C Type

This car is the 1990 replica Works Lightweight C Type.

If you want, you could buy an original Works Lightweight C Type, next time one comes up for sale, provided you’ve got at least £6 million in the bank.

Or you could get your name down for one of the ‘continuation’ C Types destined for release by Jaguar Classic sometime in 2022.

You’ll probably need around £2 million for one of those. But you won’t be able to drive it on the open road, obviously.

You’ll struggle to find a new replica because, well, Jaguar have been busy ‘discouraging’ any firm from making them, as have Aston Martin, Bentley and the other grand old marques who have gone down the ‘continuation’ classics route.

Can you see where we’re going with this?

This 1991 replica has to be one of the few remaining real-world routes to C Type thrills and an automotive experience that is gloriously, wondrously evocative of 1950’s Le Mans glamour, danger and excitement.

The vendor, Roy Swann, first saw XKC 051 in the 1980s in a Bagshot car showroom owned by Duncan Hamilton and his son, Adrian.

Adrian had recently bought back XKC 051 from Briggs Cunningham, the buccaneering American collector who was something of an analogue for Duncan Hamilton in that he’d raced at Le Mans, skippered an America’s Cup-winning yacht and been part of the USA Olympic bobsleigh team.

The vendor fell in love with the car.

He then met Duncan Hamilton in (where else?) their local pub.

“My God, what a character. They don’t make ‘em like that any more”, the vendor recalled some years later.

Duncan told him that it was for sale to anyone with around £600,000 to spare.

The vendor chuckled at the absurdity of this ridiculous sum.

Today, you could probably add at least one nought to that figure. As far as we’re aware, XKC 051 was the property of Duncan Hamilton’s son until fairly recently.

Disappointed, but not deterred, the vendor set about building himself the next best thing to the original XKC 051: a seriously good replica.

What’s more, he persuaded Duncan Hamilton to get involved in the project.

The car was built by the now defunct firm of Le Mans Sports Cars and completed in 1991 and takes its registration from a 1961 Jaguar Mk II donor car.

We understand that, thanks to the generosity of Duncan and Adrian Hamilton, this replica was actually built alongside XKC 051 at Le Mans Sports Cars’ Stoke-On-Trent workshop, with the original serving as the template and reference point for the replica.

We further understand that Duncan Hamilton was on-hand on occasion to give both advice and his blessing to the project.

This is almost a toolroom replica, but not quite.

It doesn’t have the torsion bar front suspension of the original (at first glance, the fitted suspension may be sourced from that Mk2 Jaguar that donated its registration) and the servo-assisted brakes appear rather better than they would have been originally.

Those digressions aside, this is a very accurate, very high-quality, hand-built replica and one that might be just a few tweaks and changes away from FIA eligibility, should you be so inclined.

It’s very faithful to the original cosmetically - and, as far as we can tell, mechanically.

A measure of that faithfulness can be found in the extent to which it mirrors last minute amends that were made to XKC 051 back in 1953.

Note the circular metal plate affixed to the n/s/r panel. This was fitted to the original car once it became apparent that there was no simple way of accessing the fuel tank sender without it.

Note, too, the parallel ribs running vertically down the rear section. These were fitted after a 1953 track test as a way of damping down scuttle shake.

The 3.4 litre straight-6 engine with its triple Weber twin-choke carburettors was tuned from new to match the performance of the 1953 original and, to that end, has a balanced and Tufftrided crankshaft, lightened and balanced flywheel, resized, bushed and balanced con rods, and fast road cams.

The car looks right and sits properly, with an authentically low, svelte grace, on its multi-tubular space-frame chassis (as with the original).

And it drives superbly.

Light, sensitive, responsive steering. A slick, fast, notchy gear change. Bags of power and torque. A well-balanced, agile chassis and suspension set-up. And a fabulous throaty roar from the engine and exhaust.

It’s a simply glorious piece of machinery.

We defy anyone to drive this on a sunny day and not come back grinning from ear to ear.

The car is showing under 1250 miles on the odometer and we have no reason to doubt this figure. It has spent its life largely inside a climate-controlled dry garage.

We suspect the car has had little or no use in recent years. Consequently, we have conducted a basic recommissioning (new oil, fuel, plugs).

It will need more comprehensive recommissioning prior to any serious running.

It’s a C Type, so it’s beautiful.

It’s also in very good condition all-round.

This replica was hand-built in 16 swg sheet aluminium to a very high standard by skilled people who clearly knew what they were doing.

The panels and flanks are smooth and free of any dinks, dents, ripples, scuffs or other unsightliness. The paintwork is BRG cellulose and has a good depth of gleam and lustre to it.

The gaps and shut lines are crisp and even. The trim, badging, grille and decals are in fine fettle, as are the screens, bonnet straps and headlights.

The car is wearing the right 16” wheels and the right hubs, spinners and tyres. It has the bonnet air scoop, the rear body section rib and the access hatch for the fuel contents sender – all as original.

Eagle-eyed historic Le Mans enthusiasts will have noticed that this car has a Jaguar nose badge.

The Hamilton/Rolt car didn’t have one because the aerodynamicists of the time had decreed that it caused a tiny amount of drag.

Which seems rather a moot point given the then size and shape of the somewhat portly, 16-stone plus Duncan Hamilton.

While Hamilton was more than happy for this replica to be a very close facsimile of his original, and indeed may have played a hands-on role in making sure of it, he insisted that it wore the Jaguar nose badge so that true aficionados could tell at a glance that that it wasn’t XKC 051.

Viewed from any angle, in any light, this is a stunning car in very good condition.

The good news continues unabated inside, which is more than can be said for many replicas.

Everything is solid, properly built, and robustly over-engineered to a degree that feels authentically of the 1950s.

This is a simple, focussed cabin but, unlike in an XK 120, for example, you can fit comfortably inside it even if you’re over 6ft tall and no stranger to the odd game pie and glass of port.

The car was built to fit the vendor, who is 6’1”.

During the build, Duncan Hamilton told the vendor that XKC 051 had been built to accommodate Tony Rolt and that, consequently, when the shorter Hamilton drove it at Le Mans he had to use a cushion to get himself into the optimal driving position.

The Connolly leather seats are snug and supportive, particularly when the racing harness has you in its firm embrace. According to the documentation, the steering wheel is a racing original.

The transmission tunnel is covered in silvered ‘Hardura’ heat shield material.

The tonneau cover fits easily and is flush with the car.

As far as we can tell, all dials, instruments, knobs, levers, toggles, switches, flaps and buttons do what they’re meant to do.

Lifting up the carpets anywhere on the car reveals…no rust anywhere that we can see.

All in all, the interior of this car is designed to help you to concentrate on the job in hand – pressing on a bit in a fine replica of the 1953 Le Mans-winning racing car.

The undersides of the car are clean, tidy and look to be only barely acquainted with road grime. There are a few spots of superficial rust dust here and there. Everything appears solid and in its right and proper place.

The engine and engine bay are similarly clean, dry and devoid of anything to prompt a tut or raise an eyebrow.

The plastic 3-fin fan on the radiator has been taken off its electric motor, as the nut fell off during our photo shoot.  That'll need to be put back on of course. 

If you’re seriously considering this car (and we really think you should be) then take the time to leaf through its big box of history, the highlights of which we have detailed in our photographic gallery.

You’ll find records of the Mk II donor car, specification sheets from Le Mans Sports Cars, all manner of press cuttings and articles (some more relevant than others) and plenty of old MoT certificates.

Importantly, in the gallery there is a copy of a letter, dated March 2012, from the DVLA confirming the regsitartion number, the description as C Type and the VIN number allocated to it. The car has a new V5C also.

What you won’t find are wads of bills, invoices and receipts. The vendor did the basic servicing and maintenance work himself and, with a current mileage of around 1250 miles, it clearly didn’t require much of that.

The car has a fresh MoT certificate with no advisories.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been built and maintained to very high standards.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

What we think is that we’ve been very lucky to drive and enjoy this wonderful car.

It evokes era and place like very few vehicles, taking you back to 1953 and Le Mans more vividly than any fictional DeLorean could hope to achieve.

No, it isn’t an original Works Lightweight C Type. Hence the price estimate of between £75,000 and £120,000, not £6,000,000 to £8,000,000.

But it is an extremely good replica that drives as well as it looks and whose provenance has been touched, lightly but personally, by the hand of Duncan Hamilton himself.

The biggest daily decision you’ll have to make as the owner of this glorious machine is whether to jump in and drive it or just stare at it.

Either way, you’ll spend a lot of time feeling rather smug and congratulating yourself on your impeccable taste and judgment.

With new toolroom replicas effectively consigned to history by the current trend towards in-house ‘continuation’ classics, and originals priced beyond the reach of all but the super-rich, this magnificent XKC 051 replica could well be your best route to C Type ownership.

You know you want to.

Who wouldn’t?

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon.  We are open Mon-Fri 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. To arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.