Any opinions on the various C type replicas out there?..im not a big an of fiberglass…however…
Check out following business in Australia, that amongst other work, builds from scratch C-type replicas.
Considered by most, as the best C-type replicas in the world, although that comment cant be absolute, as what constitutes ‘best’ means different things to different people.
But in this case, C-type replicas are all based on Mark VII Chassis Plates/Identities which helps in many places regarding legal road registration compared with ‘brand new cars’ such as the factory recreations that do not comply with current safety/emissions standards, thus cannot be legally road-used - but rules vary country to country.
But these recreations are done to individual customer requirement - as close as possible to 100% factory original, or specifically mechanically modified/enhanced to exact customer requirement, but always to the highest standards - and always with an ACCURATE alloy body. Forget the fiberglass rubbish, or XJ6 mechanically based approach. And from all reports, like for like, price is much better than the better known UK efforts. If you are genuinely interested, its worth checking out web site. Delivery of finished cars to North America or Europe is easy, and that saves on Australian taxes.
http://jaguarrecreations.com/c-type/
Vintage Jagworks in Blackfoot Idaho makes a pretty nice looking C. I got the tour of their facility many years ago and was impressed by the little shop turning out such quality cars. They do everything Jag related as well. Not sure if they still make any but it would be worth a call or a visit to the web site.
Could you be more specific on what “much better” means?
From their website, these look like great reproductions, certainly a cut about those from Suffolk and Heritage.
John,
As I said:………“as what constitutes ‘best’ means different things to different people”
But as you have done, best to look at web site.
It shows how exceptionally accurate aluminium bodies are made, and available in early and late configuration.
The workmanship and authentic accuaracy bodies are typical of rest of car.
The ID and Mechanicals are based on period Mark VII components, where they are accurate. Everything C-type peculiar is made from scratch (such as the wire wheels) or modified period parts to match. So that’s if you want ‘totally authentic’
If you want period or modern enhancements - all the way to an Lightweight E-type aluminium engine, that can be done as well, but once you get into upgrades/modifications that is customer choice, as its no longer 1952/3 C-type authentic.
The point of my comment, is if anyone wants an accurate C-type replica, or one to specific upgrade requirements, these are very much top-end replicas at a competitive price relative to European efforts.
The cost of an airfare to Sydney, and a one-hour train ride North is money well spent for anyone seriously interested.
I have closely looked at a couple of these in various stages of their build and finished product, and apart from specifically requested upgrades/modifications, the build accuracy and quality the reason I said ‘best’ (in my opinion)
If you want an XJ/modern mechanical based/fibreglass similar looking body - then they are available also, but not from Jaguar Recreations.
I would suggest that if a quick look shows chrome 15" 72 spoke wires and XJ /Mk II instruments it’s probably just a bit up from the fibreglass on a VW chassis quality.
I remember seeing an ad for UK replica C TYpes, Looked impressively accurate, But then it should , as the pic showed the jaguar factory complete with other 50s cars behind it.
Roger,
I see. The best replicas I’ve seen are by proteins (an old friend in the UK who passed on a few years ago), and a short nose D-type by Rod Tempero. I get your point
I’d respectfully have to disagree.I’m not that familiar with prtoteus so i googleda few sites about , including their own.
There seems to be some variation. One review showed the under side of the bonnet looking definitely fibre glass. While the factory vid showed them being made in aluminium. But even these had steel rimmed 72 spoke Series 2 wheels, 4 .2 engines and some with the later finned cam covers, all that i saw had alternators, The cars were HD8. E Type/ XJ instruments were in evidence…Not that these make ita bad car, but do show that short cuts and cost cutting are alive and well.
A bit over a year ago at Motorclassica there was a replica C Type for sale. And with my admittedly limited knowledge I couldn’t pick it . Alloy body ,Correct instruments, Dunlop alloy rimmed Wire wheels, XK series engine with H8s. Damn it looked good and I could almost have strayed to lusting after e a post war car.
But in a general way we see endless replicas, Suffolk SS100, AC Cobras. C TYpes, D Types. And most of these could be described as caricatures. Some with a passable facade, some truly awful.
These no reason in the 21st Century that perfect replicas couldn’t be made The compromises are just laziness, and frugality.
It’s all very personal and sensitive but for me… I would , like most saw my own arm off for a DType. Given they are just simply out of my reach the replica becomes an option. I have looked at many and for years trawled the web looking at the various offerings from the established and new company offerings. The harsh reality is I just can’t bring myself to own a replica and in my case not even a Lynx.
Just me and my mixed up mind I guess.
Best regards
I built kit 40 years ago . It was a Gentry on a Triumph Herald chassis , looky likey an MG TF. Admittedly the kits were very basic back then , I hated it . It looked pretty convincing and was pretty quick but just being a fake didn’t satisfy me .
Ed:
I recall going to the vintage races at Watkins Glen some years ago and parked at the side of one of the interior roads was a very convincing C-type. It had quite a crowd around it with many speculating on whether or not it was an original or replica. I leaned over the open bonnet to check where, had it been an original, the chassis number would have been stamped, but there wasn’t one. I never did find out who made it, however, for a devotee of the C-type/D-type, it remains one of the best examples I have seen. I took some photos, not sure where they are buried, but will try and find them.
Chris.
It’s easy to spend other people’s money. Many would love a toolroom copy but the newly-constructed Pearson Engineering XKSS being sold by the new incarnation of JD Classics is up for 430,000GBP. Even a Lynx is 100,000 ish and fibreglass Realms are being pitched around the 40-50K mark, though selling prices may be much lower.
There are people who’d enjoy constructing a Realm and there are those only rich enough to commission CKL to build them a Lynx clone instead of a toolroom copy. I hope we aren’t going to get snobbish and look down a people for driving anything less than a perfect copy? As the former owner of a short nose and long nose Realm I can say they are fabulous fun - grown up go karts really - and stress-free because of low repair costs. I draw the line at Triumph-engined cars the same as I would at a Pinto-engined E-type replica, but if it goes, sounds and looks like a vaguely correct-ish engine compartment it is credible as an entry-level D replica for perhaps a third or lower hobby Jag, or the toy budget of someone with competing priorities on the family budget.
This is an old pic of the D I’m building, which is not fully toolroom but it’s way head of a Lynx. It has the dry sumped 1950s 3.4 engine tilted 8.5 degrees, permitting a D-type inlet manifold header tank, water pump, radiator, oil cooler, airbox (unfinished) fuel rail (not fitted), master cylinder and Plessy brake fluid reservoir (parts bought from toolroom suppliers such as Dave Brown and Jerry Booen). Inside, the dash is from a D-type drawing and every instrument and switch is D-spec, with some being used parts from actual D-types, not facelifted E-type. Even the tach is chronometric, the rear axle is solid, with four trailing links, blah blah. It’s literally in a class of its own:, no longer a bunch of Lynx parts or a Proteus or Tempero, but not a full toolroom either. But I’d be proud to park it amongst a group of Realms. I wouldn’t dream of calling their cars rubbish.
Peter:
You make a good point. Most of us are simply not in a financial position to contemplate a Lynx, least of all the real thing. I did find the pictures of the C-type replica I saw at Watkins Glen, unfortunately the two I took were both from the rear with neither showing the engine compartment. I did have a stick-on note on the reverse of one indicating that it was a Tempero with a contact name and 1-800 number, presumably they had a U.S. agent as the car was plated Ohio. An internet search showed that some years back a company in Alberta, Canada was listed as a distributor for Realm, not sure if that is still the case.
In 1962 when OKV 2 passed through Toronto having come from out west I wrote and asked the company advertising the car what they wanted for it. I still have their reply and the price they quoted me was $4,000., closest I ever came to a D-type! However, to a young 20 year old who had just emptied his meager bank account to acquire a used and abused XK120 DHC that figure was as remote to me then as the price of a Lynx today. The only thing I would get rid of my 120 for would be a D-type and if that were to happen, obviously, it would have to be a replica.
Your project looks intriguing, do you have a completion date?
Chris.
I had one in 2011. I had another in 2013, then a sequence of children’s weddings began. I hoped for 2016, but here we are a the end of 2018…
BUT the protracted build has allowed me to buy parts I couldn’t have afforded if I’d had to rush. I have no loan to pay off but I have in effect been financing it for nearly a decade. It needs the central tub riveting, the frames and rear subframe painting/wax injecting and it needs the rear skinning over the finished structure. Then it needs one door hanging, another skinning, a petrol tank, an engine rebuild, brakes, wiring, plumbing, you get the idea. Here’s a very fuzzy picture taken by the shipper…
I can testify this guy has been around for a long time, and his aim is to make the most accurate C-type replicas available.
I sold him a MKVII ( ~20yrs ago) to source a list of 47 parts he takes from them.
He mingles with original C-type owners and use skilled craftsman to form the alloy bodies, as shown on his webpage.
I recall him telling me his aim was to make his machines indistiguishible from the original, and that the price at that time I considered quite reasonable, less than the competitors.
Accuracy is part measurable, part philosophical.
Some of my suppliers of repro D parts will build you a car identical to a real one but just not made by Jaguar. It would measure up as perfectly accurate, allowing for the fact no two Ds were identical in the first place. But would such a car be a ‘real’ D?
On the other hand, would a car made from, say, 95% of components that would not fit a D nevertheless still be more real than the toolroom copy if the 5% of parts were actually bits from genuine Ds?
So which is better? 100% fake but totally accurate, or a Lynx or Tempero with 5% of of D cast-off bits?
And if you think the latter, would it still apply if the 95% of not accurate parts were a fibreglass Realm? Still 1/20th real, but…?
It’s like the stopped watch being totally accurate twice a day, versus one that loses a second a day only being accurste every six months, or whatever?
point taken… but here’s the challenge… these cars became old race cars and essentially unsaleable for years… they were beat, rolled, burned, modified, tweaked, parted out and reassembled in period… so what is ‘original’ I have the privilege of owning what is left of a real ‘C’… but after all it has been through … it is the unbroken history of what is left that matters.
I keep looking at replica’s of C & D’s and wonder whether I would like to buy one. I have a very rare original RHD 120FHC and for me one of the things I love about this car is the feeling of nostalgia, the history, the thoughts of the previous owners using it in the 50’s. It has soul, It is like looking at a piece of antique furniture as against something new from a department store. I am sure that the right replica C or D would be great fun to drive and far faster than my 120, but something just stops me from buying. Another reason is that so many of the replica’s are just not right in shape, size, width or underpinning’s. The ideal, if I wanted a replica would be a full tool room copy. But they appear to be far too expensive and anyway with that sort of money, I could probably buy the very best historic XK on the market. So, I am stuck in a thought process that I would be disappointed with a replica when I turn up at a show or race meeting and have people ask me about the car, but knowing that the drive there and back would have been fabulous. I fully understand the person who wants to actually build a replica, which I could not do, but why not totally restore an XK instead as surely the same or more pleasure and the end product is more valuable in the future ?
Typing takes more effort than it used to, but having gone through many/all the same thought processes I would be happy to talk. I think the answers are easier for D than C but both are far easier than even a rare version of a catalogue model. PM for phone number