Footnotes

• 'If Les Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans has been responsible for the new E-Type Jaguar, then that Homeric contest on the Sarthe circuit will have been abundantly justified. Here we have one of the quietest and most flexible cars on the market, capable of whispering along in top gear at 10mph or leaping into its 150mph stride on the brief depression of a pedal. A practical touring car, this, with its wide doors and capacious luggage space, yet it has a sheer beauty of line which easily beats the Italians at their own particular game.'
  There have been few better summaries of the E-Type's manifest virtues than the forgoing, penned by the inimitable John Bolster for Autosport shortly after the car's debut. Conceived and developed as an open sports car, the Jaguar E-Type debuted at the Geneva Salon in March 1961 in Coupé form. The car caused a sensation - spontaneous applause breaking out at the unveiling - with its instantly classic lines and a 150mph top speed. The design owed much to that of the racing D-Type, a monocoque tub forming the main structure while a tubular spaceframe extended forwards to support the engine. The latter was the 3.8-litre, triple-carburettor, 'S' unit first offered as an option on the preceding XK150. Aerodynamically, the Coupé was superior to the Roadster and the better Grand Tourer, enjoying as it did a marginally higher top speed and the considerable convenience of a generously sized luggage platform accessed via the side-hinged rear door. Its engine aside, only in terms of its transmission did the E-Type represent no significant advance over the XK150, whose durable four-speed Moss gearbox it retained.
  This matching-numbers right-hand drive E-Type coupé has since May 2009 formed part of a very large private collection on the Continent, where it has benefited by a total re-spray, newly re-upholstered seats, new headlining and carpets. Not used on the road since acquisition, the car has nevertheless been started regularly in accordance with a strict preservation programme. Finished in red with a black leather interior, it features a sunroof and is described as in generally good/very good condition, starting 'on the button'.
  The car is offered with history file containing copies of the driver's handbook, workshop manual, special tuning manual, Heritage Certificate, expired road fund licence (April 2010), expired MoT certificates (most recent March 2010), copy Swansea V5 document and invoices totalling £7,000 for recent work including rear axle removal and brake overhaul. An opportunity to acquire one of the most beautiful cars ever made in its earliest and purest form.

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Category: Motoring / Motor Cars

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