The world's best preserved Jaguar C-type has realised $8.1m in Bonhams' Monaco sale.

The auction took place in Monte Carlo on May 13.

The Jaguar C-type has a long and storied racing history

The 1952 XK120C racer bears the chassis number XKC 011, although it is in fact its sister car, XKC 047.

This is important, because XKC 047 had a storied racing history, including outings at Le Mans and the Belgian Spa 24-hours.

It was sold to tyre company Dunlop for use as a test car in 1955.

In 1963 a buyer paid £635 ($918) for it, meaning it has achieved growth of 18.8% per annum since then.

James Knight, Bonhams' group motoring director, explained: "Following months of painstaking research, working with the best historians and notable marque specialists, Bonhams unravelled an intriguing mystery involving the unrestored Jaguar C-Type offered, correcting more than 60 years of accepted Jaguar history. 

"The Jaguar was not at all a combination of the chassis from one car, the body from another.

"On further inspection, we established that it really is the 1953 Belgian-entered Le Mans car in toto, chassis number 'XKC 047' - still bearing its original, complete 'K 1047' body - but with its chassis number merely re-stamped 'XKC 011' by the factory before sale in January 1955."

Other highlights of the auction included a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO coupe, which made $2m.

The model famously sold out before production had even finished and remains enormously popular today.

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