1952 Jaguar C-Type Roadster

This Jaguar C-Type, chassis number 014, was supplied through Max Hoffman's in New York to Commander John 'Jack' Rutherford of Florida. It was dispatched from the Brown's Lane Works on October 7th, 1952 finished in Cream with a Suede Green interior, powered by engine number E-1014-8, and body number K-1014.

Rutherford bought his C-Type to Daytona Beach in February 1953, where he achieved the fastest time of 134.07mph during the NASCAR Speed Week. He retained the C-Type through to 1960 when it was sold to David S. Burtner who campaigned it for the next couple of years in the Mid-West, including at Road America in 1962. From this point forward, Burtner raced the C-Type with a Chrysler Valiant Slant Six motor and Borg-Warner transmission, with a Positraction rear end. In this guise, he was entered to run at Watkins Glen in 1964 but appears to have not been raced. The car was later sold to Ralph Steiger of Hamilton, Ohio - complete with the original engine and mechanical components, including a cylinder head from a late XK120 unit.

Mr. Steiger owned the car for over 24 years, doing only mild refurbishment, but otherwise did no more than keeping it in storage. He sold it in 1986 to a gentleman also of Ohio and after this it would pass to Burkhard von Schenk in Germany, leaving America for the first time. Paul Jaye and RS Panels were enlisted to complete a full restoration during which the original engine and gearbox were returned to the car.

Von Schenk road registered the car in the U.K. in 1990 and actively raced and road toured the car extensively over the course of the next dozen years before it was acquired and returned to the USA with Skip Barber in 2002. The car would enjoy a few more years of road use before being sold into the care of its current owner.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2020