Spec Your Own 1953 C-Type on Jaguar’s New Online Configurator
- Jaguar has launched a configurator that lets fans and potential collectors spec their dream 1953 C-type.
- Jaguar Continuation C-types will be built to original specifications, with a design achieved using a combination of scans of an original car and original engineering drawings from Jaguar’s archives.
- The company will build eight examples, and those cars will be eligible to compete in historic racing events.
How would you like to have a brand-new car that was engineered before the advent of the color TV? If that sounds like your kind of party and you also happen to be fantastically wealthy, you may be interested to learn that Jaguar is building eight Continuation examples of its Le Mans–winning 1953 C-type coupe. If it sounds like fun but you’re not a member of the private-jet set, you can sate your curiosity by playing around with the online configurator Jaguar has launched for the track-ready car.
Jaguar Land Rover
The configurator, which went live on January 27, allows users to choose among 12 paint and eight interior colors for their imaginary C-types. There’s also the option to add a badge or four roundels (round white or off-white accents), one each on the hood, each door, and the rear decklid. Jaguar provides helpful suggestions so that configurers have the best chance of designing an aesthetically pleasing example, but you’re free to ignore the hints if you have something more outrageous in mind.
The real-life C-types and the ones you can design on the internet are both enabled by the use of computer-aided-design software. Jaguar took scans of an original 1953 C-type and referenced engineering drawings from its archives in the development of the new designs. The cars will be hand-built at the Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works shop in the United Kingdom.
Jaguar Land Rover
The mechanical bits will be as period-accurate as the design. The new C-types will be powered by a 220-hp 3.4-liter inline-six with Weber triple carburetors—triple carburetors were sometimes found in high-performance engines during this period—and disc brakes, which were only a few years old in 1953. Since these new cars will be built to historical specifications, they’ll be eligible to participate in historic racing events. To that end, Jaguar will allow owners to spec a period-incorrect harness approved by one of the main governing bodies of auto racing, the FIA.
Jaguar hasn’t released pricing information on the cars, but unless you’re one of the eight people who are going to buy one, that doesn’t really matter. The configurator is live now and free, so go forth and create an imaginary version of this dream car.
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