200,000 paid for the car, seven million for the story
The value of a complete and interesting history of a car could hardly be demonstrated more impressively. Bonhams auctioned the Jaguar XK 120C "C Type) with chassis number XKC 047, or XKC 011 after restamping, from 1953 for EUR 7,245,000 (CHF 7,986,888) at the Monaco auction yesterday evening.
Now a C Type is relatively closely related to the XK 120, which is also suggested by the designation XK120C; it was simply the more aerodynamic racing version of the road car. Accordingly, good replicas are also produced, some of which can hardly be distinguished from the original, 53 of which were built by the factory at the time. Such a "replica" costs around EUR 200,000 and, depending on how it is built, could even bear the year of manufacture of the 1953 donor.
So if the C-Type from Monaco was valued at EUR 7.2 million, almost 50 percent above the estimate, then the remaining seven million was invested in history in addition to the base value, i.e. in documents, photos, memories and patina. And, of course, the certainty of buying one of the five surviving C-Types that raced at Le Mans.
However, the Bonhams car already had a lot to show for itself. It was a works car, achieved 9th place at Le Mans, was later sold for £ 695 and had been in the same family ownership since 1963. Accordingly, the car has been preserved in its original condition and its history is easy to trace. Nevertheless, it is hardly better to drive than a replica that is 36 times cheaper. That's how much history and uniqueness are worth. It will be interesting to see how the two value components will behave in the future. In any case, you could probably have bought the same XK 120 C 10 or 15 years ago for a fraction of today's value, while the replicas have changed little in value over the years.
We have already published the complete results .
