2009-07-16 06:28:40 | Tony Brown writes:

The only surviving chassis of the ill-fated 1952 aerodynamic C types, now clothed in a standard C type body. In same ownership for many years.

2014-07-10 14:16:38 | Anonymous writes:

The C-type in the photo above is XKC012 not XKC011. The photo was taken at the 1953 Mille Miglia.

2014-08-04 19:14:18 | Anonymous writes:

The 1952 Le Mans photo above is also of XKC012 (it's first outing) Look for the louvers in the body and the drivers door.

2014-08-12 19:28:31 | terry mcgrath writes:

There is in fact a lot more to the story on XKC011and still a lot more to be correctly established.
What is almost 100% the case is that at some point the original body shell painted yellow from XKC047 that ran at Lemans 1953 has finished up on chassis XKC011 and the current owner has agreed with this.
As it turns out it was XKC011 that originally had the vents in the door and LH side and it is this bodyshell that did run at Lemans 1954 being a green shell with yellow stripe that is now fitted to chassis XKC012
later stamped by the factory XKC047. The owner of XKC011 has also agreed with this.
Establishing what has happenned completey may or may not ever be discovered.
If any person wants to contact me I can provide copies of all documentation.
regards terry
tmcgrath@bigpond.com

2015-11-19 18:32:03 | Lofty writes:

For sale via Bonhams in Monaco, 13 May 2016.
"We are delighted to confirm that we already have several incredible consignments for the sale, led by the fantastic 1952 Jaguar C-Type 'XKC 011'. This very special sports-racing car is not only an ex-Stirling Moss ex-Works team entry, it is also in wonderfully original condition, and is offered direct from the family that has owned it for 52 years. Research indicates the car is fully original, remaining un-restored since the day it left the Works team in 1955."

Jaguar C-Type 'XKC 011' was built new for the Jaguar Works racing team early in 1952. After making its racing debut at Silverstone in May of that year, driven by one-time pre-war Brooklands star Peter Walker, it was fitted with special longnose/longtail aerodynamic bodywork for the Le Mans 24-Hour race. There it was co-driven by Stirling Moss and Peter Walker, but failed to finish.

Reverting to handsome standard body form, it was again co-driven by Moss and Walker in the 1952 Goodwood 9-Hours race, finishing 5th, before Walker set best times in both the Shelsley Walsh and Prescott hill-climbs. World War Two hero Major Tony Rolt drove it to victory in the September Goodwood Meeting.

In 1953 'XKC 011' was then campaigned by Stirling Moss and 'Mort' Morris-Goodall in the 1,000-mile round-Italy Mille Miglia, and by veteran driver/journalist Tommy Wisdom in the Sicilian Targa Florio. This great car's Works Team career concluded with Moss finishing 2nd in heat, and 4th in the final of the 1953 British Empire Trophy race which took place at Douglas, Isle of Man.

The following year the car achieved further success, when it was loaned from Jaguar Cars Ltd to Belgian team, Ecurie Francorchamps.

After it was sold from the Works, the car became one of the most raced and best-known of all C-Types on the British club-racing scene, owned and driven by Michael Salmon, Gordon Lee and Robin Sturgess. It finally passed into the current vendor's family ownership in March 1963, and it has been maintained in active yet incredibly un-spoiled order ever since.

Bonhams' sale of Jaguar C-Type 'XKC 011' in Monaco, 2016, will provide a truly incredible opportunity to acquire the cream of the historic car collecting world."

2015-11-26 08:10:41 | Jeremy B writes:

Off to auction in Monte Carlo next May. I reckon £8m and a chum who deals in automobilia, he reckons £12.5m.

I wonder what the person selling the car in that advert at the top would make of these estimates?

2015-12-23 02:07:16 | Anonymous writes:

I had posted twice above, once on 2014-07-10, and once on 2014-08-04 as "Anonymous" my comments were incorrect. The "louvered car" is XKC011. After much research I am correcting my statements... I have repented. ;-)

2016-01-15 12:54:25 | terry mcgrath writes:

The history on the 3 cars XKC011, XKC012 and XKC047 is very close to being completely solved and the actual story will amaze you. As they say "Fact is stranger than fiction"

2016-01-25 13:24:17 | terry mcgrath writes:

Noted Jaguar Historian Andrew Whyte concluded many years ago that the actual Ecurie Francorchamps C type that ran at Lemans in 1954 was the actual car that finished up in the USA. This car complete with D Type disc brake system, the 1953 special "parallel link rear Suspension" or "parallel trailing link" rear suspension and full D type spec motor has been in long term ownership in the USA since 1971.
More on this important story soon

2016-02-02 16:28:37 | Bonhams writes:

THE WORLD'S FINEST LONG-TERM PRESERVED JAGUAR C-TYPE -
BONHAMS UPDATE

A closer look at the 'time machine'
Jaguar headed for Monaco



Bonhams forthcoming Monaco Sale on May 13 will feature the world's finest as-original, running, long-term preserved 'time-machine' Jaguar C-Type, UK road-registered 'POV 114'.

On January 14, 1955, this outstanding example of Jaguar's double-Le Mans-winning XK120C design was registered under chassis number 'XKC 011', and was sold ex-works to the Dunlop Rubber Company. It survives today in essentially identical specification.

The preceding history of Jaguar's works team car 'XKC 011' embraces the 1952 Le Mans 24-Hours, the 1953 Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, plus a race win at Goodwood, when driven by such Jaguar stalwarts as Sir Stirling Moss, Major Tony Rolt and Peter Walker.

The Jaguar world at large has long accepted a contemporary works team anecdote that a subsequent body swap saw chassis 'XKC 011' fitted with the body from sister car 'XKC 047', which had itself been campaigned by the Belgian Ecurie Francorchamps team during the 1953 Sports Car World Championship season.

As works prepared, and tended by Jaguar factory team mechanics, 'XKC 047' competed in two 1953 24-Hour races - at Le Mans and at Spa-Francorchamps - plus the ADAC 1,000 Kilometres classic at the Nürburgring in Germany. 'XKC 047' finished 9th overall in the great French race, co-driven by its formal owner Roger Laurent / Baron Charles de Tornaco. At Spa Laurent shared it with future Ferrari personality Jacques Swaters and at the Nürburgring with Ferrari's great future three-time Le Mans-winner Olivier Gendebien.

Bonhams' comprehensive investigation of 'XKC 011' (aka 'POV 114') to be offered at Monaco, initially revealed evidence identifying its chassis as having been the works team car which substituted at the last moment as the Ecurie Francorchamps entry in the 1954 Le Mans 24-Hour race. After our attention was drawn to other features of the car, further inspection now indicates that such participation is in fact debatable.

It is therefore probable that 'XKC 011' as now offered by Bonhams is not really a split-identity car at all. Present opinion is that it is likely the 1953 car, chassis 'XKC 047' - still bearing its original, complete 'K 1047' body - subsequently re-stamped 'XKC 011' at the factory before delivery to Dunlop in 1955.

'POV 114' continued to be maintained by the factory when it served as a test car for Dunlop, and during its club-racing days in the hands of owner-drivers Mike Salmon, Gordon Lee and Robin Sturgess into the 1960s.

It was acquired by the Griffiths family in 1963 and it is to be offered at Monaco direct from this self-same ownership, 53 long years later.

Most significantly, it has been preserved virtually untouched in wonderfully well-patinated 'time machine' condition to this day.

James Knight, Group Motoring Director of Bonhams, commented, "Bonhams has been assisted in its investigation regarding this famous Jaguar C-Type by a wealth of experts, and tremendous thanks are due to British Jaguar authority Den Carlow, motoring writer Marc Noordeloos, Jaguar enthusiast Jeremy McChesney, Chris Keith-Lucas of CKL Engineering Ltd, Gary Pearson of Pearsons Engineering, Australian Jaguar authorities Les Hughes and Terry McGrath, and Andrew Tart of Andrew Tart Motor Engineering.

"While officially sold by the Jaguar factory as 'XKC 011', the histories of '011' and '047' - which became intertwined during the preceding 1954 Le Mans race period - have baffled any number of Jaguar enthusiasts and historians over the years. These recent collective efforts - most notably with the total support of the long-term owner - are getting closer to unlocking this exciting mystery in this gloriously-preserved old war-horse's very early life."

Bonhams inaugural Monaco Sale will present an exclusive auction of just 40 hand-picked, exceptional motor cars. Timed to coincide with the Monaco Grand Prix Historique, the Sale will take place on 13 May 2016.

The venue for this grandest of motoring auctions is the prestigious Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel, overlooking the Grand Prix circuit's famous 'Station' hairpin, scene of so much motor sporting drama.

For further information on Bonhams motor car department visit: www.bonhams.com/cars

2016-02-14 00:54:56 | Anonymous writes:

The original factory works C type XKC011 as run at 1952 Le Mans 24-Hours, the 1953 Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, plus a race win at Goodwood driven by such Jaguar stalwarts as Sir Stirling Moss, Major Tony Rolt and Peter Walker etc has been in the USA since about 1960 and remains in very complete and original condition. This is a different car to the car registered POV114 in January 1955 and that the factory stamped XKC011 only for the purpose of English registration this car is in fact XKC047.

2016-03-21 12:52:37 | Fritz writes:

Sorry, but I don´agree with the last comment of Anonymous, There is no doubt about the 012 / 047 story but 011 is 011. 012/047 is in the USA and is not not on auction in Monaco. Of course there was a lot of body and body parts swapping in 1954 between the three cars but only 012 gave up it´s identity in favor for 047.

2016-03-22 16:48:17 | Pekka T. writes:

Hi Fritz,

Yes, I agree, and it is also silly to say "as run at 1952 Le Mans 24-hours" as everybody knows that NO CAR exists as run at the 1952 Le Mans as they all had the "droop snoop" aerodynamic body, known as the Kettle car and they were all taken off, demolished and refitted with regular C-type bodies afterwards. AFAIK there is only one recreation C-type in existence with the 1952 Le Mans body design, this one:
www.car-revs-daily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/1952-Jaguar-C-Type-Le-Mans-Ket ...

and here:

www.xkdata.com/cars/detail/

2016-03-23 10:01:31 | Doug Nye writes:

Just to clarify this matter, the car now being offered by Bonhams really is, indisputably, the 1953 Le Mans 9th place car that was prepared by the factory team, run from the factory team pits, entered by the Belgian Ecurie Francorchamps team, painted in their bright-yellow Belgian racing colours, and driven by Roger Laurent/Baron Charles de Tornaco. Its chassis number at that time was 'XKC047'. For Le Mans the following year it was (finally) replaced as the Belgian team's entry by Jaguar's own ex-works 1952-built car 'XKC011'. Jaguar then let the Belgians keep that car for sale at the end of the year, while replacing it in their own inventory with 'XKC047' left over in storage at Coventry. To regularise the situation in their own accounts they changed the chassis stamping on this car - 'XKC047' - to 'XKC011', and UK road registered it as such with the reg. no. 'POV 114'. The car survives today with both that chassis stamp and its January 1955 UK road registration status intact. Its body and chassis are in fact the original '047' as had been firmly established by Bonhams and friends in recent weeks. Old '011' as originated in 1952 and as raced and sold by the Belgians in 1954 really does seem to be the car surviving in dismantled form in California that has been very confusingly described as 'XKC012/047' by many people, over many years.

2016-03-30 04:06:52 | pauls writes:

Direct URL to above auction:
www.bonhams.com/auctions/23591/preview_lot/4925021/

2016-04-05 15:30:27 | terry mcgrath writes:

The car Bonhams are auctioning is of course XKC047 though it is stamped XKC011 but this was done only for the purposes of registration in January 1955.
As it turns out the car registered [POV114] did have an original XKC047 chassis stamping on it after all!

2016-05-09 00:58:33 | pauls writes:

Bonham's description:
Lot 114
1953 Jaguar XK120C 'C-Type' Sports-Racing Two-Seat Roadster
Registration no. POV 114 (UK) Chassis no. XKC 011' – Originally 'XKC 047' re-stamped 'XKC 011' by Jaguar Cars Ltd. in 1954 Engine no. E 1066-9

2016-05-12 23:43:33 | terry mcgrath writes:

The big day today
I am not sure having an auction on Friday the 13th is the best given the old Brooks auction the forebear of Bonhams never use to have catalog thirteens or lot thirteens!

2016-05-13 14:05:49 | pauls writes:

From Jaguar Magazine:
This is C-Type XKC011 on display at the Fairmont Hotel in Monaco for the big Bonhams auction tomorrow.

It has been in owner Penny Woodley's life since she was 17, so tomorrow everything changes when it goes up as the star attraction. It will an emotional experience for Penny and her family, but she has maintained the fabulous Le Mans and ex-works car in pristine as-last-raced condition even down to the paintwork.

The factory sold it to Dunlop for tyre testing in 1955 when it was in the C-Type's ultimate mechanical condition.

2016-05-14 08:20:17 | Pekka T. writes:

Sold for €7,245,000 inc. premium

2016-05-16 15:09:07 | Anonymous writes:

"Jaguar Magazine" has presented an incorrect representation of "011." Actually the car is "XKC047" which is the ex-Ecurie Francorchamps team Le Mans car NOT ex-works Jaguar and not 011. XKC047 was over stamped (as seems the factory was want to do) by the factory XKC011 and sold on. The road registration POV114 was registered to 047 aka 011 in 1955.

2016-05-19 19:18:57 | Doug Nye writes:

The last sentence of the 'Anonymous' post above states, "The road registration POV 114 was registered to 047 aka 011 in 1955" - which, although I understand what they're trying to say, is not factually correct.

Although now by common consent - and almost universally accepted to be the true situation - the car today bearing the chassis no. 'XKC 011' actually began life in the metal as 'XKC 047', the UK registration no. POV114 was registered to the car carrying the chassis stamping 'XKC 011'.

That number, now accepted as a factory re-stamp, had been on the car's chassis since late 1954 and thus appears on the original registration document for POV114 which survives today and which was first issued in January 1955.

So POV114 was indeed the registration number issued to 'XKC 011' since at that time the relevant chassis did indeed carry that identifying serial number at that time, and it still carries it today.

The research into how this identity swap between 'XKC 011' and 'XKC 047' occurred has been well chronicled here and elsewhere but, interestingly, such has been the present-day market's acceptance and understanding of this new research that from amongst the many interested parties who viewed Penny's car pre-Sale, no fewer than twelve were sufficiently impressed to become active bidders once the Bonhams auction began in the Fairmont Hotel.

The final price realised of €7,245,000 euros (£5,715,580 Sterling - US $8,350,405) bears testimony to the car's rarity. It is, after all, the only one of the five surviving Jaguar C-Types which competed at Le Mans 1951-54 still to be in unrestored condition - and by extension it possesses extraordinarily 'time machine' originality.

This important car is, in fact, a mechanical artefact of the highest connoisseurial quality. Plainly, this is a factor fully recognised by the global collectors' market.

2023-10-17 10:53:54 | Fritz writes:

Saw the car in the National Auto Museum (the Loh Collection) in Dietzhölztal-Ewersbach in Lower Saxony in Germany.

2023-10-17 12:25:24 | Fritz writes:

Sorry, it’s not in Lower Saxony but in Hessia