Beschreibung:

3,781cc DOHC All-Alloy Inline 6-Cylinder Engine Lucas Fuel Injection 293 BHP at 5,750 RPM 5-Speed Manual ZF Transmission 4-Wheel Independent Suspension 4-Wheel Disc Brakes – Inboard Rear *Ex Team Cunningham Lightweight raced by his team at the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans *Driven by legendary champion drivers Walt Hansgen and Augie Pabst *11th overall and 3rd in class at the 1963 Road America 500 and 4th overall at the 1963 Bridgehampton 500 *Overwhelmingly original example documented with expert histories, owners' correspondence, period photographs, and numerous passages from specialist literature *Important and well-known example of a rare Jaguar sports-racer BRIGGS SWIFT CUNNINGHAM II American sportsman Briggs Cunningham was indisputably one of the most pivotal figures in postwar sports car racing, making a profound impact as a driver, team owner, and constructor. His contributions to both motor racing and competitive sailing eventually led to his induction in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and the America's Cup Hall of Fame. Born in 1907, Cunningham was nurturing interests in sailing and motor racing by his early twenties, facilitated by a family fortune that included early shareholding in the Proctor & Gamble company. In 1931 he made his first mark in competitive sailing as a crewmember of the Dorade, which won that year's Fastnet race. Almost two decades later Briggs skippered the United States' 1958 America's Cup winner, the Columbia, which was the first 12-meter sloop to win the world's oldest international sporting trophy. In 1930, at the age of 23, Cunningham started racing cars with friends Samuel and Miles Collier, the soon-to-be founders of the Automobile Racing Club of America (eventually renamed the Sports Car Club of America). Briggs' postwar racing career began in 1948 with modified American makes like Buick and Cadillac. In 1949 he was one of the first buyers of a Ferrari 166 Inter, and in December 1950 he placed 17th at the first endurance race at Sebring while driving an Aston Martin DB2. At Le Mans in June 1951, Cunningham began a personal quest to win the 24-hour race by entering his C2-R roadster, which was built under his own company name. Despite the car's early retirement, Briggs continued to develop the model at his Palm Beach factory, where the famed Alfred Momo managed the Cunningham racing team (at various times fielding such accomplished drivers as Jack Brabham, Luigi Chinetti, Bob Grossman, Dan Gurney, Duncan Hamilton, Walt Hansgen, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Ed Hugus, Bruce McLaren, Stirling Moss, Augie Pabst, Roger Penske, and Roy Salvadori). In 1953, the Cunningham company introduced a roadgoing customer car called the C3, of which about 25 examples were ultimately produced. These grand touring cars were characteristically equipped with large Chrysler engines and clothed in elegant Vignale coachwork. The C2-R was meanwhile developed into the C4-R, which achieved numerous podium finishes in SCCA racing through 1954, including first-overall at the 1953 12 Hours of Sebring. Finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans were equally encouraging, including fourth place in 1952, seventh place in 1953, and fifth place in 1954, and in April 1954 Cunningham was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Unfortunately U.S. tax codes of the era limited the number of years a low-volume manufacturer could remain tax-exempt without earning a profit, so rather than pay a hefty tariff Briggs chose to close his sports car company in 1955, thereafter racing almost exclusively in foreign makes. This decision coincided with an agreement with Coventry to become the director of Jaguar Cars, New York, the marque's East Coast distributorship, which facilitated Cunningham's purchase of a D-Type and several racing XKs over the next few years. In 1960, at the factory's behest, Cunningham entered the E2A developmental racing prototype at Le Mans, but the fin-tailed roadster suffered a