1952 Jaguar C-Type #XKC-018 - The C-Type of Two World Champions
This Jaguar C-Type was purchased new by 5-time Formula 1 world champion Juan-Manuel Fangio and raced extensively in Argentina in her early years by local Jaguar distributor Jose Millet. Conserved in incredibly original state over the years, she is now being offered from the collection of another F1 world champion after many years of successful historic racing.
Having spotted XKC 018 at the 1952 Belgium Motor Show, the legendary Argentinian racing driver remarked “very nice, very nice!”. The sale concluded was a publicity coup for Jaguar, who even let the car go for half the sale price of $6000! Dispatched on October 27th 1952 and distributed through the Belgian Motor Company, she was the only C-Type specified in bronze metallic, over silver trim. Fangio’s name appears in early-dated Argentinian documents on file, as well as on a copy of the car’s Experimental Department road test report dated October 1st, 1952.
It was no wonder Fangio fell in love with the C-Type. Already a Formula 1 world champion with Alfa Romeo in 1951, one can imagine a man so consumed by the pursuit of speed would be enthralled by the idea of owning a Le Mans-winning and highly experimental endurance racer. The C-Type’s competitiveness and reliability made it the ideal sports-racer and demand far exceeded supply, which Jaguar manipulated by putting its marquee sports-racer in the hands of marquee drivers first. As John Bentley in his 1957 “Jaguar Guide” recalls, “if you happened to be named Farina or were a world champion, your chances were good of getting one”. Fangio was one such beneficiary of this method, reportedly acting as an intermediary for Argentinian Jaguar distributor Jose Millet to get his hands on Jaguar’s latest greatest sports car.
One might think it is a shame not to have witnessed perhaps the greatest race driver of all time compete in a C-Type in period, but that feat would have unfortunately not been possible in any case, as Maserati declined to allow their new for 1953 star driver to race in a rival’s car. It is therefore unclear exactly how long XKC018 was officially in Fangio’s possession, although the C-Type hastily boarded a ship for Argentina after the sale and passed to Millet of Buenos Aires with whom it would start an active South American racing career.
At this point the car was repainted in red and white and Millet first raced the car on 21st June 1953 at the Autodromo General San Martin, placing 3rd, then sporadically entering her in further local races. For 1954, 1955 and 1956, alongside a few local race entries, XKC 018 participated in the 1000 Km of Buenos Aires, the Argentinian round of the World Sports Car Championship, although the car was never able to finish the race due to various mechanical issues. By 1956, the C-Type was starting to get outclassed by the more powerful and advanced Ferrari 375 and Maserati 300S, pushing Jose Millet to sell her on to another Argentinian racing driver, Jorge Magnasco, who briefly raced her in further local events. By 1961, after passing back through the hands of Jose Millet, XKC018 had been sold to Ernesto Tornquist who had the car painted in a similar colour to the by then famous Ecurie Ecosse cars.
The car remained in Argentinian ownership right up until 1983 when she was purchased by American collector Bill Tracy of Virginia, who painstakingly had the car shipped to the Washington D.C. area. It was only a few months after purchasing it that, to his great surprise, Bill found out XKC018’s first owner was the great Fangio! It was a recurring occurrence for many European race cars in the Land of the Pampas to suffer ignominious fates, gaining strange engines and even stranger bodywork to keep them competitive on ever-smaller budgets. This was not the case of XKC 018, as Tracy remarked that the car was kept in remarkably original and intact condition as she finally rolled off the transporter, 5 months after he had purchased the car. Bill Tracy embarked on a ground up restoration, repainting the car in red this time and using it sparingly over the following 14 years.
In 1997, 018 was sold to ex-Scuderia Centro Sud racing driver Giorgio Acutis who returned the car to her original bronze paint and entered her in her first Mille Miglia, before going to Bruce Lustman of Denver, Colorado in 2001. Bruce and his son James took the car to Pebble Beach in 2002 and were also the first to take the C-Type back to the race track, campaigning her in historic events such as the Monterey Historic Meeting, starting a very long and successful historic racing career for 018. In 2007, she was acquired by noted collector Bill Ainscough, returning to the UK for the first time since 1952. Thankfully, the Lustmans had gone to great lengths to securely keep all of the car’s original components, body panels and original engine (E1018-8) while racing her, which were all reunited with the car by marque experts CKL Developments.
Her historic racing career continued from strength to strength, with participation in all of the great European events and earning Fangio’s C-Type the reputation of being one of the fastest C-Types on the grid anywhere, securing multiple wins at events such as Le Mans Classic, Monaco Historique, Spa Six Hours and Silverstone Classic. In 2016, XKC 018 passed on to her second Formula One World Champion, Jenson Button, who continued to campaign the car around Europe, having most recently raced it himself at the 2023 Goodwood Revival and 2024 Monterey Historic races.
From Fangio to Button, from one world champion to another, and now offered through Fiskens, XKC 018 is uniquely associated to two greats of Formula 1. Presented in outstanding condition as a proven race winner and one of the fastest C-Types available, she will be a highly competitive entry for historic racing, and worthy to join one of the world’s greatest collections.
