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1952 Jaguar C-Type Raced By Phil Hill Heads To Auction

When talking about 1950s racing cars, it’s hard to ignore the C-Type. Not only did the XKC help Jaguar win the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, but it did so in grand style. A drunken Duncan Hamilton drove his C-Type to victory in 1953, but this story isn’t about Hamilton. It’s about the first C-Type to score a win in the U.S.
1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007) 11 photos
Photo: Ryan Merrill for RM Sotheby's
1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 007)
Identified by chassis number XKC 007, the streamlined racecar in the photo gallery is the 7th of 53 examples built, and it wears the 9th body constructed. Finished in June 1952, the first C-Type believed to reach the United States was entrusted to the iconic Phil Hill for racing over the next few months.

Identified by decal #41, the car was driven by Hill from California to Wisconsin for the 200-mile Elkhart Lake Road Race. There, the only American-born driver to win the world driver’s championship in Formula 1 claimed 4th in the main event after winning the Sheldon Cup.

As if that wasn’t enough of an effort, Hill then drove XKC 007 back to Los Angeles. Fast-forward to the closure of 1957, and Jaguar collector Robert Lane bought the car. By this time, the D-Type was the marque’s weapon of choice at Le Mans, so Lane decided to update the inline-six engine with the D-Type cylinder head and Weber 45 DC03 carburetors.

The car ran at the Bonneville Salt Flats during this period, where Lane is reported to have hit 157 miles per hour. That’s a lot more than the 140-ish miles per hour racing drivers were achieving on the Mulsanne Straight.

Today, XKC 007 is owned by a consignor who decided to part with the car at RM Sotheby’s New York sale. The C-Type is one of the two highlights of the event, where RM Sotheby’s will also try to find a new home for a very special Ferrari 250 GT California.

Estimated to fetch between $5.5 and $7 million, XKC 007 is described by the auction house as a “remarkably original and pure example of a Coventry legend.” Add in a well-documented history and tip-top maintenance from expert mechanics, and you know that bidding will undeniably get wild.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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