Proteus
Proteus is a British luxury car manufacturer with factories in Coventry and Henley. The company is famous for their Proteus C-Type, a luxury, hand-built Jaguar C-type recreation that is made to each customer's individual specifications.
The History of Proteus
Originally named ‘Copycats’, Proteus was founded in 1980 by architect Jim Marland, the company was re-named as Proteus in 1983. In its early days, Proteus provided sets of parts for donor kit cars as well as C and D-types, XJ13’s and Mercedes 300SLR’s.
Over the years Proteus has developed a reputation for building some of the finest Jaguar C-Type recreations available, and now the company focuses entirely on the production of this vehicle.
The Proteus C-Type
The Proteus C-type is based on the Jaguar XK120-C and features a tubular chassis with a lightweight aluminium body. The latest Proteus C type also includes a five-speed manual gearbox and authentic period design details including leather bonnet straps, original style dials, wire wheels with spinners and a Le Mans style fuel filler. The Proteus C-type’s Jaguar XK, 4.2-litre engine, generates over 260 BHP, and the car can achieve 0-62 mph in 5.4 seconds.
The original Jaguar C-type was one of Jaguars most famous and successful designs, winning Le Mans in 1951 and 1953, the car was also renowned or its iconic body shape. With only 52 Jaguar C-types built, they now sell for millions, so it is not surprising that Proteus’s faithful replica is in demand.
Hand Built and Bespoke
Each Proteus C-Type is hand built around a remastered original Jaguar XK 4.2 litre engine and takes over 1000 man hours to produce and complete. Each car is built to customer specifications, with the buyer able to personally meet their engineer that will be building their car and also choose the colour, trim and leather. Furthermore the customer can choose from various sports performance upgrades. Upon delivery of their new Proteus C-type, the customer also receives a build diary, which details the whole build from start to finish. Only twenty cars are manufactured each year for the British and European Market, making the Proteus C-type both rare and desirable.