1952 Jaguar C-Type Sells for $8.2M in Monaco

What is it about Monaco that just makes people want to spend money? Well, in this case, it’s a 1952 Jaguar C-Type.

In such a city, I can certainly think of worse things to drop €7.2 million ($8.2 million) on. Of course, I have absolutely no concept of such astronomical sums.

But when you’re talking about Bonhams’ Monaco Sale, oftentimes, money is no object. As it apparently wasn’t for the lucky bidder driving home this stunning collectible.

So what makes her such a valued item? Well, rarity and history — to name a couple of biggies.

As far as rare goes, you can’t do much better than an unrestored, one-of-a-kind race car that’s been owned by the same person for the last 53 years.

Under history, we can check the “raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans” box. Tick. Not only that, but after exhaustive research, the Bonhams team solved a 60-year old race mystery. Apparently this is the 1953 Belgian-entered Le Mans car, with original chassis number XKC 047. But there was some confusion about that, since the chassis had been re-stamped with another number (XKC 011) before being sold. According to BlouinArtInfo:

“This corrects a 60-odd-year belief that it was the works team car that substituted a Belgian Ecurie Francorchamps entry in the 1954 Le Mans 24-Hour race at the last minute, combining that chassis with the bodywork from an earlier Belgian entry which finished at Le Mans the previous year.”

So that solves that lingering case.

But it doesn’t answer the real question: is it actually worth $8.2M?

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

Via [BlouinArtInfo]