Mark checks out a lovingly detailed and engineered, locally made Jaguar C-type replica from Coventry Classics

When Jaguar founder, Sir William Lyons, conceived of the XK120 he was really only looking for a limited production test-bed for his new twin-cam XK and a bit of publicity on the side.

Little did he know this new combination would launch his company down the road to a whole new market, and on the track to competition success.

However, like many British companies, Jaguar’s immediate post-war focus was on getting factories out of war production and back into car production — quickly freshening up pre-war models while planning for the introduction of the 1948 MkV saloon.

While production lines stamped out the new MkV, the XK120 was to be produced in limited numbers using the coachbuilder’s mainstay of aluminium over a wood frame. Such was demand — particularly from greenback country — that Sir William Lyons couldn’t ignore it and around 200 aluminium-bodied XK120s were completed before Jaguar finally geared up for larger scale steel-bodied production in 1950.

Competition

The ‘120’ is a reference to the car’s claimed top speed in miles per hour, something that was greeted with a fair degree of disbelief amongst press and public alike — it was time to grab more headlines.

In May 1949 Lyons flew a group of journalists to the Jabbeke motorway in Belgium where test driver ‘Soapy’ Sutton turned in a 126mph (202kph) run with the car in normal trim. Jaguar then fitted a small competition windscreen and a cowling over the passenger compartment, and did a 133mph (214kph) run. In its rush to get the XK120 ready for the 1948 Motor Show Jaguar had grabbed what was at hand — shortening the MkV chassis and fitting it with the new, 119kW (160bhp) XK engine.

The hefty, truck-like chassis may not have been ideal for a sports car, but it provided a fair degree of rigidity, and the independent front suspension using wishbones and torsion bars added some sophistication and gave good handling for the time.

Jaguar supplied cars to several drivers who proceeded to rack up both race and rally wins.  Leslie Johnson claimed fifth in the Mille Miglia in his relatively stan dard XK120 and then threatened to win the 1950 Le Mans 24-hour race — retiring after 21 hours while closing in on the leader. Two other XKs came in 12th and 15th. Convinced of the possibilities Lyons ordered the building of a competition version, the XK120C — or C-type for short.

The XK120C

They knew the engine was up to the job, in fact Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis had gone back to Jabbeke and wrung more than 274kph (170mph) out of a heavily modified XK120.

But the standard chassis and body were too heavy for serious competition, and, although beautiful, wasn’t aerodynamic enough. Aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer penned a more efficient shape to clothe a fully triangulated space-frame chassis using steel bulkheads around the cockpit to add stiffness.

A century ago many car manufacturers got their start after their founders tried the current offerings and felt they could do better. Coventry Classics brings a similar story to the replica manufacturing business.

Back in 2002 the company’s Dunedin-based business manager, Mark Paterson, was building a well-known brand of C-type in kit form when he came in contact with Gore-based panel-beater Brian Dwyer. Dwyer had recently gone out on his own after 12 years doing alloy work for restorations experts, The Croydon Aircraft Company, at nearby Mandeville airfield. To cut a long story short, they looked at Mark’s imported replica and decided they could do better.

Torsion bar front suspension similar to the road car’s was used, but instead of semi-elliptic leaf springs on the rear, Jaguar opted for a single transverse torsion bar with the live rear axle held by radius arms and an A-bracket. Braking was left to a new Lockheed two-leading shoe set-up, while rack and pinion steering replaced the road car’s recirculating ball system. Jaguar took a relatively conservative approach engine-wise, increasing the size of the exhaust valves and ports, giving the cam slightly more lift, and beefing up the valve springs. The result was 149kW (200bhp); enough to hit 96.5kph in 8.1 seconds with a top speed of 231.2kph — supercar stuff 56 years ago.

Finished just in time for the 1951 Le Mans, the three factory C-types’ main competition came from Lago Talbot, 2.5-litre and 4.0-litre Ferraris, three 5.4-litre Chrysler-engined Cunninghams, five Aston Martins and a 3.8-litre Nash-engined Healey.

Moss set a pace that soon saw two of the chasing Talbots out of the running. Unfortunately, Moss and a second C-type were struck down with a simple oil pipe flange problem but Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead’s C-type won with a 96.5km lead over the second-placed Talbot. It was the beginning of a great decade for Jaguar and British motor sport, which had not tasted Le Mans victory since the days of the Bentleys.

In 1952, concerned by the straight-line speed of the latest Mercedes, Jaguar hastily developed a more streamlined body, but overheating issues took out all three cars.

Lesson learned, Jaguar returned to the original shape in 1953, but a number of important improvements lurked beneath the lightened body and chassis: Triple twin-choke Webers, a bulked-up clutch and strengthened suspension — but the trump card was the new Dunlop disc brakes.

Jaguar had played an important role in their development, with much of the testing work done in a C-type. A prestigious field representing 18 manufacturers couldn’t match the C-type’s pace. They set the first 160kph-plus race average and became the first to break 4000km for the 24-hour classic, taking first, second and fourth — a fitting climax to the C-type’s Le Mans career. It was to be replaced by the legendary D-type in 1954, but many of the 11 works and 43 production C-types would continue to compete successfully around the world for many years to come.

Coventry Classic C-types

Considering Mark’s involvement in his family’s business South Air — an aircraft engineering company at the Taieri Airfield near Dunedin — this was a marriage made in heaven.

They became partners in Coventry Classics, planning to offer two options — an authentic as possible reproduction C-type and a replica using XJ6 engine and suspension. The latter was ditched when they realised their first reproduction car drove a lot better than the XJ6-based car.

As authentic as you like

Brian used original C-type drawings to create the same tubular space-frame chassis, with slight changes at the rear to provide stronger seatbelt anchor points.

They use original specification torsion bar front and rear suspension, using Jaguar MkVII upper wishbones and their own machined A-arms below. The torsion bars travel well back into the chassis, which Mark believes is key to the way the cars drive.

“The torsion bars carry the stress back into the centre of the chassis. Using XJ6 coil-overs on the front would put stress on the front section of the chassis that it was never meant to take.”

The rear suspension employs a transversely mounted torsion bar, with the solid rear axle held in place by radius arms and a Panhard rod. Any departures from original are generally minimal and sensible — such as XK150 discs, three-pot XJ6 callipers and a baffled sump, instead of the original two-piece unit.

“Even authentic C-types have had braking upgrades,” Mark points out, “and the old sumps were susceptible to oil surge during racing.”

Most customers ask for a later model all-synchro Jaguar gearbox and overdrive rather than the old Moss ’box.

Inside the cockpit, MkVII Jaguar instruments are refaced to look more like original C-type dials, and they also use the correct switches, braided loom and Lucas electrics. Under the curvaceous bonnet lurks the familiar twin-cam Jaguar XK engine — usually in 3.8-litre form, although buyers can specify the 3.4 if they wish.

Beautiful

Its original demonstrator car was fitted with triple Webers, delivering around 200kW, but Coventry Classics also offers other options such as twin two-inch sand cast SUs or the 1¾-inch SUs used in the first C-types.

Over the top of all this, Brian has formed the beautiful C-type body and he says that they basically build everything in batches of three — be it louvres, dashboards, bonnets or chassis. Right from the start they have worked through the Low Volume Vehicle Certification regime.

“At the end of the day it is a reproduction — but it’s generally a genuine-spec car and certainly no kit car,” Brian says. Mark explains. “It’s a question of how authentic do you want it? We could make it totally authentic in terms of specs, but it would double the price.”

Praise from on high

Mark went to the UK with their first export C-type (a 3.4-litre with 1¾-inch SUs) and attended a prestigious Jaguar Drivers’ Club National Day —winning the Norwich Union Trophy for the most outstanding achievement and the car the judges would most like to take home. The former demonstrator car, which was sold to Australia, was similarly well-received. Mark displayed the car at a historic racing meeting at Sydney’s Eastern Creek. While in the pits he heard a gruff voice behind him say: “What do we have here?” When Mark told him it was a C-type the voice said: “I know it’s a bloody C-type — I used to race one.”

After looking over the car the voice informed him the original MkVII torsion bars are “too narrow and tuck in on the corners.”

His parting words were: “Bloody good replica son — well done!”

Mark turned to someone nearby and asked; “who was that?!”

“Frank Gardner,” came the reply.

Needless to say, Coventry Classics has uprated the torsion bars, although Mark hastens to point out it would only have been an issue under hard cornering.

On the road

I didn’t have the opportunity to drive Peter White’s car during the photo shoot, but did have a drive of the demonstrator before it was sold. In a mixture of town and motorway driving the C-type proved docile when it needed to be, but ready to rip away when required.

I don’t think I even topped 3500rpm — I didn’t need to! Large reserves of torque were more than enough to propel this 950kg car without having to dip into the 200-odd kilowatts available.

The rack and pinion steering was as direct and accurate as you could want, while the suspension provided a surprisingly supple ride without any sign of body roll.

I am not surprised C-types were such winners — the supercars of their era. This may not be the real thing, but it would be hard to get any closer.

Peter White’s C-type

When you are used to seeing C-types in either British Racing Green or the dark blue of Ecurie Ecosse, Peter White’s C-type stands out.

Finished in French Racing Blue — the colour used by Bugatti amongst others — it has been built around the original specs of C-type number 16, sold in 1952 to a French buyer.

A keen classic car man, Peter asked Coventry Classics to make it appear as authentic as possible, with twin two-inch sand-cast SUs, and an original-style steering wheel and switches.

There are other little touches too, such as the centre-mounted driving light behind the radiator grille and the spare set of spark plugs sitting in drilled holes to the right of the driver.

According to Mark, the 3.4-litre engine with two-inch SUs was the most common configuration on the original cars. Only the early C-types used the 1¾-inch carbs, and triple Webers were only used on the last of the Le Mans cars.

The main departures from the original number 16, are the 3.8-litre engine and XJ6 disc brakes — the original would have had drums.

Craig Miller’s 1951 XK120 Roadster

Craig Miller’s eye-catching British Racing Green 1951 XK120 provided the C-type photo shoot with an important visual reminder of the competition car’s roots. A few kilometres in the car between his house and the venue also provided a vivid reminder that the road-going XK120 could also be a potent performer.

Admittedly, Craig’s car is far from the standard factory model, having been restored and upspec’d to international XK racing specifications. It now runs a 3.8-litre engine with Cosworth rods, Hepalite pistons, a straight port head, triple Webers, extractors, Mallory ignition and an improved cooling system.

To make the driving a little easier it has had a five-speed ’box along with the XK140 rack and pinion steering. The package also includes disc brakes, adjustable shocks and competition torsion bars.

“I didn’t want a Concours car,” Craig explains. “I wanted something that was useable.”

Something useable it definitely is with performance, handling and braking that makes it a comfortable companion to modern traffic.