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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