World’s priciest Jaguar sells for a rip-roaring £8m
IT is an illustrious car that raced at Le Mans more than 60 years ago and later brought glory to a Scottish motor racing team.
Now the sought-after Jaguar C-Type has become the most expensive car ever built by the British manufacturer after selling at auction for £8.4million.
Three bidders battled it out for more than ten minutes to get their hands on the sleek machine, the second of three lightweight works cars built by Jaguar for the 1953 motor sport season.
Peter Whitehead and Ian Stewart drove it to fourth place at Le Mans that year, averaging 103mph. With Jaguar also taking first and second spot in the endurance race, the C-Type earned its place as one of the world’s great racing cars.
Jaguar sold the car to the Edinburgh-based Ecurie Ecosse team, which went on to secure a number of victories with it.
Only 53 C-Types were built and they rarely come onto the market meaning values have soared in recent years. The car went under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s in Monterey, California, on Saturday. The auction house expected it to sell for around £5million but after a bidding war the final price was a staggering £8.4million ($13.2million).
This makes it the most expensive Jaguar ever sold publicly, with only a small number of Ferraris, Mercedes and McLarens ever fetching more. In a statement, RM Sotheby’s said it was an ‘exceptional result’ for a car ‘known as one of the most legendary in existence’. The buyer’s identity was not revealed.
The Jaguar is fitted with a 3.4-litre sixcylinder engine which gives it 220bhp and a top speed of more than 140mph. After its fourth place finish at Le Mans, Jaguar sold the C-Type to the Ecurie Ecosse team.
It painted the Jaguar in its signature colour of flag metallic blue and handed the car to driver Jimmy Stewart – elder brother of Sir Jackie – who won four races with it in 1954.
Ecurie Ecosse sold the C-Type to Peter Blond in the same year. He painted it British racing green before competing at race events throughout Europe.
In 2000, the car was bought by a Californian collector. He had the Jaguar restored by Pearsons Engineering in Northants, and returned it to the Ecurie Ecosse colour scheme and racing configuration.