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| Chassis No. | ||||
| XKC-007 | ||||
| 210 bhp, 3,442 cc double overhead camshaft inline six-cylinder engine with two SU carburetors, four-speed manual transmission, independent front suspension with upper and lower wishbones, torsion bars and hydraulic dampers, live rear axle with trailing arms, ‘double-action’ torsion bar and torque reaction member and hydraulic dampers four-wheel Lockhead hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 96" Jaguar’s engineering team was truly formidable. William Heynes had joined the company as chief engineer in 1934 and his colleagues included Harry Weslake, Walter Hassan, Harry Mundy and Claude Bailey. When the Jaguar XK120 was launched in October 1948 it was lauded as one of the finest high performance sports cars to emerge from Britain. The 160 bhp, 3.4 litre, twin-overhead cam, six-cylinder engine giving the car a top speed of 120 mph. The Jaguar XK 120 was an immediate success in competition. Three were entered in the Silverstone Production Car Race in June 1949, Britain’s first big motor race since the War. Leslie Johnson and Peter Walker destroyed the opposition with Johnson taking a resounding victory. XK 120s went on to win races across the world. In America, Phil Hill, a future Formula 1 World Champion bored one out to 3.8 litres and won race after race. In Britain, Stirling Moss helped cement his reputation in a semi-works XK 120, winning the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod in atrocious conditions and leaving the field standing in the 1951 Production Car Race at Silverstone. Development of the C-Type Chief engineer William Heynes had stated that, until he went to the 1950 Le Mans race, he had ‘never seriously contemplated designing a car for racing’. At Les Vingt-Quatre Heures du Mans that year, Leslie Johnson had his more or less standard XK 120 as high as third place until failing brakes eventually caused the clutch to fail. Lyons and Heynes watched the race from the pits. Heynes observing, “This race, as far as I was concerned, debunked the tradition of a tuning wizard with a lifetime experience on the track and a special gimmick in his tool box. I realised that a car could be built of standard production units from the factory, and that such a car could win the race given reasonable luck.” The performance was enough to convince Lyons of the car’s potential – Jaguar were going seriously racing – the aim to win the great race at Le Mans in 1951. Work began on the first prototypes in Autumn 1950, and the XK 120C – the C stood for competition – quickly became known as the C-Type Jaguar. Three C-types lined up for the start of the third post-war Le Mans in 1951. The works drivers were Stirling Moss and Jack Fairman, Peter Whitehead and Peter Walker and Leslie Johnson partnering Clemente Biondetti. An oil pipe flange failure eliminated Biondetti at a quarter distance and after eight hours Moss had the same problem resulting in a blown engine. Before bowing out, though, Moss set a new lap record of 105.24 mph. Meanwhile, Whitehead and Walker concentrated on getting their car to the finish and took the victory with a record average speed of 93.50 mph, a staggering 77 miles ahead of the second place finisher In addition, the car set a new record for the greatest distance travelled over the 24 hours – 2,243.886 miles. An impressive showing for the first time out, this was just the beginning of a period of domination at Le Mans for the Jaguar factory – a record few other marques have matched, before or since. In total, the 1950s saw Jaguar win Le Mans an amazing five separate times. Three months later, in the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod, the C-Types came first, second and fourth with Moss winning from Walker and Tony Rolt recording the fastest lap whilst nearly snatching third place. Stirling Moss rounded off the C-Type’s debut season by winning at Goodwood in September. In 1952 Moss won the Daily Express Production Sports Car race at Silverstone and won again in the privately owned Wisdom and Cannell car at the Reims Grand Prix. Young Scottish driver Ian Stewart won the Jersey Road Race in July for the newly-formed Ecurie Ecosse team and then won another two races at Charterhall in Scotland. In private entries, Stirling Moss and Duncan Hamilton finished 1st and 2nd at the International August meeting at Boreham. The works cars together with the three privately owned C-Types won numerous races in Britain until the end of 1952. Regular delivery of production C-Types to the United States began in August 1952 and before the season was over the first cars exported to America were making their mark in the hands of Sherwood Johnson, John Fitch and – most notably – Phil Hill. XKC-007 The C-Type Jaguar presented here, chassis number XKC-007, was delivered to New York on August 1, 1952 and then on to its first owner, Charles Hornburg, Jaguar’s West Coast dealer based in Beverly Hills. Hornburg had convinced William Lyons that competing in America would increase sales and XKC-007 was the very first C-Type to arrive in the US. The car was driven straight to Elkhart Lake for the last ever street race on the 6.5 mile Wisconsin circuit on September 6th and 7th. Chuck Hornburg had hired Phil Hill to race XKC-007 with George Weaver driving a second C-Type, XKC-009. The Sheldon Cup proved to be a fantastically close race with Phil Hill dicing with Phil Walters’ Ferrari throughout the race. Hill took the victory after fifteen laps with an average speed of 98.5 mph; Walters was second and George Weaver third. It was the first victory for a C-Type in North America. In the 201.5 mile Elkhart Lake Cup, Hill was chasing the two C2 Cunninghams when a holed exhaust started filling the cockpit with fumes. Road and Track reported that Phil Hill had passed Briggs Cunningham “…and was chasing the second place car of Fitch when the Jaguar burned a hole in its muffler, letting exhaust gases into the cockpit. Hill was nearly overcome by the fumes before he realized what the trouble was. Thereafter, he drove with his head hanging over the side – more or less cruising to the finish.” Hill finished fourth. Phil Hill recalled the arrival of XKC-007 in America. “It was a big moment. These cars were not just a replacement for the XK 120. People expected these cars to be a darn sight better than the 120 had ever been. The 120 was ‘gee whiz’ in’49 and still ‘gee whiz’ in ’50 but by ’51 they were passé – they were still very much envied as transportation but not taken very seriously as race cars. I was just in awe of the C-Type when I first stepped into it. When I look back on it now, it makes me smile. The steering was light – almost scary light. It was the first car I ever drove that had a really precise feel about it – it really felt like a racing car.” Phil Hill, who was just twenty-five years old, would go on to win the Formula 1 World Championship for Ferrari in 1961. He raced XKC-007 for the remainder of the 1952 season. At the Auto Road Races at Watkins Glen, John Fitch won the Seneca Cup race driving XKC-009, not XKC 007 as had been reported earlier. Phil Hill drove the car in the main event but sadly the race was abruptly ended after the second lap following a fatal accident involving another car and a spectator. At Madera Airport in California Phil Hill finished 2nd overall in this car and in December took outright victory in the Torrey Pines Road Races. Hill remembered driving XKC-007 back to Beverly Hills after Watkins Glen with photographer Jerry Chesebrough. “We drove long hours. The car had a 4.27 rear end and the engine just beat its brains out. We ran on the Dunlop racing tyres, and there was no muffler or top on the car. We finally stopped in Loudenville, Ohio, to fit a wind deflector on Jerry’s side. We dropped down from Chicago on Route 66 and by the time we got into Alberquerque I was sick enough to have to see a doctor. I don’t know what it was – I was just feverish – so this doctor told me I’d have to stay in that night. The next morning I flew back and left Jerry with the car. Almost immediately after I got into LA I had to go south to Mexico to practice for the Mexican Road Race and then half way through that had to take a detour and catch a bus back up to California to race the C-Jag at Madera.” The next owner of XKC-007 was Carlyle Blackwell, Jr. A film actor from Hollywood Blackwell’s Father, Carlyle, Sr. was a famous silent movie star who appeared in more than 180 films and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Blackwell campaigned the car in 1956 and 57 racing at Paramount Raceway, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield and Pomona. In his first recorded race, Blackwell entered a series of races in California, as noted in the accompanying table: Paramount, CA Raceway, March 10, 1956 - 7th place Santa Barbara, CA March 17, 1956 – 10th place Bakerfield, CA May 19, 1956 - 7th place Santa Barbara, CA. September 1, 1956 - Race 7 – 14th place Santa Barbara, CA September 2, 1956 - Race 12 – 12th place Pomona, CA October 21, 1956 - 11th place Santa Barbara, CA May 18, 1957 - Race 9 – 8th place, Race 15 – 9th place Santa Barbara, CA September 1, 1957 - Race 12 - 2nd place Santa Barbara, CA September 2, 1957 – Race 15 – 13th place At the end of 1957, XKC 007 was sold to Robert Lane. Lane ran the car at Bonneville with a D-Type head and 45DC03 Weber carbs, and was clocked at 157 mph. Jack Ratteree, a clarinet player in the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, was the next owner. The car was subsequently owned by Walt Osborne and Rick Johnson before being purchased by noted C and D-Type expert Terry Larson in 1986 and completely restored. At the time, the original head was not installed, but it has since been reunited with the car and is included in the sale. The current owner has shown the car at concours events since 1993 and the car has achieved many 100 point scores and first places in the Jaguar Club of North America competitions. The car is a JCNA Challenge Cup winner and has won the national class. It was awarded the Best Sports Car Award at Meadow Brook in 1996 and was second in class at Pebble Beach in 1997. The glorious C-Type Jaguar presented here, chassis number, XKC-007 with original engine, number E-1009-8 has an exemplary history. It is a race winning car in the hands of one of the all-time great racing drivers – Phil Hill – sports car ace and 1961 Formula 1 World Champion. This car would grace all the great historic events of the world and could surely be a race winner once again. Phil Hill described this car as, “the most tractable go to the store type sports racing car I have ever driven.” “I was just in awe of the C-Type when I first stepped into it. When I look back on it now, it makes me smile. The steering was light – almost scary light. It was the first car I ever drove that had a really precise feel about it – it really felt like a racing car.” - Phil Hill, speaking of XKC-007 |
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| Addendum Please note that this vehicle comes with the original seats and tool roll, |
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