The Jaguar E-type S1

Can you believe the Jaguar E-type is about to receive its pensioner’s bus pass? This true British icon celebrates its 60th birthday in 2021, not that its age-defying beauty would suggest it. It was at the Geneva Motor Show of 1961 that Jaguar sent shockwaves around the world with the E-type. So frenzied was the response to the car on the show stand that Jaguar had its test-driver Norman Dewis ‘drop everything’ and drive through the night to deliver a second E-type to the expectant automotive press. 

Sixty years later, the E-type is very much held in the same esteem. Malcolm Sayer’s curvaceous design is considered by many (us included!) to be proportionally perfect and for Brits especially, the E-type is the quintessential classic car. It’s the Swinging Sixties in a sharp, Savile Row-tailored suit!

The E-type’s sheer beauty, motorsport-derived underpinnings and, perhaps most importantly, competitive pricing led to a 14-year production run, during which time some 67,300 cars were built in three different series. For purists, the early Series 1s remain the pick of the bunch. Its combination of minimal beauty and impressive performance (the 3.8-litre straight-six propelled the original E-type to a record-setting 150mph!) earning it a firm place in the ranks of the greatest cars of all time.

This Jaguar E-type S1

This right-hand-drive Jaguar E-type S1 3.8 Roadster is chassis number 850780. It left the Browns Lane factory in November of 1963, finished in the tasteful shade of Opalescent Dark Green over a beige leather interior. It was sold new to E.A.D. Apthorp Ltd via Henlys of London and first registered on 17 April 1964. The car has remained in the United Kingdom ever since and, remarkably, it’s accompanied by a fastidiously compiled history file which includes maintenance records and invoices dating back to the 1960s.

We’ve simply never seen an E-type history file like it. Significantly, this confirms that the car has been properly serviced and maintained throughout its entire life – something that’s meant it has never needed to be comprehensively restored. Beyond the beguiling patina throughout, the importance of this is especially felt when you drive this E-type. It’s utterly joyous – poised, positive and balanced, and you can feel that it’s never been apart. It’s exactly how Jaguar intended it to feel like, and you soon understand why the E-type became such a sensation in the 1960s.

Finished in its beautiful original colour combination and boasting matching numbers, the aforementioned history file, and its Jaguar Heritage Trust Certificate, chassis 850780 is a fantastic example of the purest and most desirable variant of the Jaguar E-type. It’s a car that, thanks to the care and foresight of its string of previous UK-based owners, is ripe to be regularly driven and enjoyed. Particularly in this, its 60th year.

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