The Jaguar C-type has surely got to be one car where the rule book for replicas can be reasonably vague, partly due to the rarity of genuine cars and because no two were identical, or if they were, most had been chopped and changed by the time they became collectible. With genuine C-types selling for millions of pounds (in 2016, a 1954 C-type sold for £5.7m), there’s not much chance of the majority of people affording one, or for that matter, finding one. Production only began in 1951 and finished some three years later after a mere 53 had been built.
Whilst the rarity of the C-type makes it collectible and expensive, what’s more important is its racing history. During the beginning of the Fifties, the XK 120 was proving to be a success on the racetrack but needed some means of shedding weight and improving its aerodynamics. The XK 120C (C stands for Competition) was developed, which adopted the XK 120’s running gear, but used a tubular steel framework covered in an aluminium body and with the hugely popular and successful 3.4-litre XK
