Ecurie Ecosse returns to its roots with a reborn C-Type
Almost 70 years after Ecurie Ecosse driver Ian Stewart collected his C-Type Jaguar from the factory, the famous Scottish race team is to build its own series of tribute cars.
In 1952 Stewart took his Jaguar to the little island of Jersey and trounced rivals from Aston Martin and Frazer Nash, beginning a storied career for Ecurie Ecosse which would include winning Le Mans in 1956 and 1957 in D-Types driven by Ron Flockhart, Ninian Sanderson, and Ivor Bueb.
The C-Type was were it all began and Ecurie Ecosse is celebrating by building seven “new” C-Types to mirror the team’s original seven cars—all of which still exist.
Ecurie Ecosse patron Alasdair McCaig says, “We are paying homage to these cars by creating a numbered sister car to each one. Meticulous in their detail, like their forebears, hand-built in Coventry and tuned by Ecurie Ecosse technicians.”
True to its form, Ecurie Ecosse is retaining as much originality in the new cars as possible while also adding a few “considered” improvements. The body is still hand-fabricated from thin-gauge aluminum alloy and fitted to a steel spaceframe chassis, although it is slightly wider, and significantly stiffer than the original. A straight-six Jaguar engine remains at the heart of the C-Type, but is of 4.2-liter rather than 3.0-liter capacity, and has fuel injection to deliver over 300 horsepower. Suspension and braking are uprated, and a five-speed manual transmission is fitted.
The meticulously applied blue paintwork is set off by airbrushed Ecurie Ecosse shields, while the interior is trimmed in blue leather by Crest and features a pair of Tag Heuer Master Time stopwatches on the dashboard.
The seven cars will cost £516,000 ($703,600) including taxes and will be road legal in the United Kingdom so can also be made to comply with U.S. regulations. With original Jaguar C-Types fetching ten times that price, these Ecurie Ecosse beauties also look like bargains.
You can watch the C-Type being driven in anger on the stunning Applecross Pass in the Scottish Highlands below.
