Description
Model History
March 1961 - Jaguar unveils the E-Type to the world at the Geneva Motor Show. An Italian gentleman in sunglasses may have said something about it being the most beautiful car in the world. Due to last minute preparations the press car, known by its registration number of 9600 HP is still in England the day before the show. As a result, development engineer Bob Berry drives it flat out to Geneva, arriving just in time. Such is the demand for press drives, a message is sent to the factory requesting “the open one”. Norman Dewis drives 77 RW (the first open E-Type) flat out overnight to Geneva as well!
The launch and reaction to the car is huge and an icon is born. The E-Type was built for 13 years in three different Series.
* Please note, the opinions on the different Series below are my own, although I haven’t met many people that disagree. I am a huge believer that cars are extremely subjective and personal. Everybody should love, covet and buy whatever make, model or style they want.
The Series 1 was the original and arguably, the purist representation of the icon that is the Jaguar E-Type. Powered by the tried and proven six-cylinder in 3. 8 Litre guise it blew the competition, including many cars worth twice as much, into the weeds. It quickly became the fastest car magazines had tested and no amount of time seemed to affect the impact of those looks, people just couldn’t get enough, especially in the USA. In late 1964, the Series 1 was upgraded with many improvements to the engine, including an increase in capacity to 4. 2 litres. This uprated Series 1 also featured improved brakes, cooling, electricals, more comfortable seats and most importantly, a fully synchromesh gearbox to replace the old Moss box. There were three body styles available, a Fixed Head Coupé (FHC), 2+2 and the Open Two Seater (OTS). I should whisper this next part, but again, I struggle to find many that disagree: The most beautiful version of “the most beautiful car in the world” is the FHC. That roofline just makes it.
The Series 1 was replaced in 1968 with the Series 2. Still powered by the 4. 2 Litre engine, the Series 2 was the answer to a myriad of US rules and regulations. With the USA being by far the biggest market it made sense to re-design the car around such restrictions. Sadly, many of these changes, in my opinion, spoil a lot of those iconic looks and design cues. Gone are the closed headlights with their beautiful glass covers, replaced with underwhelming open headlights that break the flow of the lines at the front. Staying at the front, the iconic oval “mouth” grows for improved cooling but as a result goes from perfect to a bit gawpy. The jewel like rear lights sitting above the rear bumper and dainty front indicators are replaced with giant, ungainly units slung under the bumpers. Inside, the seats gained headrests, the sculpted toggle switches are replaced with big plastic rockers and the theatre of inserting the key in the dashboard and hitting a starter button, makes ways for an ignition barrel on the steering column with steering lock. Mechanically, the E-Type is still a beast, offering 150mph performance for half the price of any of the competition. Mercifully, the 4. 2 Litre engine wasn’t affected, unless you lived in the USA (sorry), where the triple S. U. carburettors were replaced by two Strombergs, at a cost of 20bhp and 20lb ft of torque.
Finally, in 1971, the Series 3 was launched. Unfortunately, things didn’t improve a huge amount on the looks front as the E-Type had grown into more of a super GT car as opposed to an out and out sports car. Some, including myself, may lament this, but that was what the US demanded and any manufacturer would be mad to ignore the wants of its biggest market. The big change, though, was the engine. Jaguar had been developing a V12 since 1964 for their racing programme but it wasn’t to be and the result ended up in the Series 3 E-Type and later XJ saloons. 5. 3 Litres in capacity, breathing through four side draft Zenith-Stromberg carburettors, it was beyond smooth. This was the engine that gave birth to the legend about balancing a coin on its side on top of it, when idling and the coin wouldn’t fall over, as there was no vibration through the engine or chassis. Despite the doubling the number of cylinders and a sizeable increase in capacity, the Series 3 only offered 272bhp, just 7bhp more than the Series 1, and torque increased a bit to 304lb ft, up from 283lb ft.
In 1974, the final E-Type was made and Jaguar wouldn’t make a true sports car replacement until 2012, when the F-Type was unveiled. In the 13 years of production a total of 72, 515 E-Types were built, with the majority going overseas. In fact, of that total, just 14, 130 were built in RHD (under 20%). When you boil it down to individual models, it gets even more interesting. For example, 5, 830 Series 1, 4. 2 Litre FHC were built. Of those, just 1, 582 were in RHD and many of those would have been for other RHD markets like Australia and South Africa. So a UK delivered RHD example of any E-Type is a very rare in the grand scheme of things.
Motor Car for Sale
The Jaguar E-Type for sale at Wrightson Automotive is just such an example. This Series 1, 4. 2 Litre Fixed Head Coupé was ordered in Carmen Red with Black interior, a specification it retains to this day. It was delivered by the Jaguar distributor in Leeds. The early history isn’t known but an original old style logbook shows that the car was still in Leeds in January 1974, owned by a Mr. Tempest. It looks like he part exchanged the car in 1975, as it was then briefly owned by Eagle Motors in Wakefield who sold it on to a Mr. Cottle of Castleford. He in turn sold it to a Mr. Chalkley of Pontefract in 1976. The history file doesn’t record the ownership history much after that. We know from an older V5 on file that the car was bought in April 2009 by a Mr. Marshall from Scunthorpe, so the car seems to have stayed true to its Northern roots.
The current owner acquired the car in February 2010 and has enjoyed it as part of his collection for those past 15 years. During that time he has maintained the car with Peter Chambers Automotive in Tewkesbury. A bit of a legend in Porsche and Ferrari circles, Pete is a master engine builder and I have been fortunate enough to drive several cars with engines by him and I swear he is an actual wizard!
Pete rebuilt the engine on this car in June 2010 when it had 76, 907 miles. This included a full strip down, new bearings, piston rings etc. The big ends were reground and the small ends reamed.
In January 2011, at 77, 500 miles the steering and front suspension were stripped and rebuilt.
May 2012 at 79, 122 miles, the rear subframe was removed, completely stripped, cleaned, painted and rebuilt before being refitted with all new bushes.
A year later in May 2013, the car having only covered 300 miles since its last visit to Pete, the E-type came in for a full service and check over, as well as having the speedo drive and cable replaced.
As the owner’s collection grew, other cars bubbled to the top of the “drive me” pecking order and the Jaguar was accumulating a few hundred miles a year and thus the handy owner decided to maintain the car himself and getting an MOT every year until 2018 when cars over 40 years old didn’t require an MOT anymore.
In December 2023, the decision was made to take the E-Type back up to Pete Chambers so he could do the service of all services and check everything on the car. Every fluid and filter was changed on the car. All the hoses under the bonnet were replaced. The radiator was sent away for re-coring and once completed the cooling system was pressure tested and checked for leaks.
Now the time has come to part ways with his beloved E-Type. From the number of photos in the owner’s house featuring the car, it is clear it has been a loyal and well-loved part of his wonderful collection but with it being used less and less, it is only fit and right for another enthusiast to take the batton and be the next custodian of this wonderful motor car.
Today, the Jag is presented in its original colours, with the interior being the original to the car with some lovely mellowing patina to it. The chassis stamping is visible and matches the ID plate on the car and the heritage certificate on file. As do the stamped numbers on the engine block and cylinder head. On the road, this a truly wonderful example. I have driven quite a few E-Types in my career and they are often disappointing to drive. Like all cars, they need to be cared for and set up by people who really know the cars and what they are doing. When you find such a car, you question the appeal of some much more exotic machinery from the same era.
A famous collector who has owned nearly every big car, including two 250 GTO’s, once told me: “After 50 years of collecting cars, I have come to the conclusion that a really well sorted E-Type is all the car you will every need!”
