I should admit straight away that I have a changeable attitude towards replicas. Some just look wrong, while others look pretty accurate but have completely unsuitable running gear. Very few seem, to my eye anyway, to get the mixture spot-on.
I have, however, always had a bit of a weakness for Jaguar C-type replicas. The Coventry firm’s original road-racer is one of my all-time favourites, and I can definitely see myself in a good recreation. Apart from as transport to the Le Mans Classic, that is, because last summer everyone queuing for the ferry seemed to have one…
But that’s beside the point. A few weeks ago, art editor Port organised a photoshoot location that just happened to also be the home of Classic Jaguar Replicas. He knows owner Phil Cottrell from the latter’s role running Thatcham Mini Centre, but Cottrell and son Oli now spend most of their time building C-type, D-type and XKSS reps.
Phil has long been associated with Jaguars, as a dealer, restorer and mechanic. In fact, he kept the first two replicas that he built – both D-types – for himself. He then worked with Realm Engineering to develop the Heritage C-type recreation, before Oli joined him in 2005.