1967 Jaguar E-Type
VEHICLE DESCRIPTION
The Series 1 E-type 2+2 combines the unmistakable style of Jaguar’s landmark design with the extra practicality of two rear seats, and is a beautifully versatile choice of 1960s sports car.
Chassis number 1E 77896 was built on 12 January 1967, as one of the cars that are now unofficially and retrospectively known as the ‘Series 1½’. This means that it retains the overall design of the Series 1 but features some of the upgrades that would also be found on the Series 2, such as the open headlamps and rocker switches on the dashboard rather the earlier toggle switches.
It was finished in Opalescent Silver Grey with Dark Blue interior, and was dispatched to Jaguar Cars New York on 22 January. The first owner is recorded as being Peter Satori Leasing, and documents in the car’s history file show that, by 1980, it was owned by Marcia Jacklich in Laguna Beach, California.
It was still in California in 2012, and the following year it was imported back to the UK as a project car in need of a full restoration. The new owner then set about returning the E-type to the road, a painstaking process that included converting it to right-hand drive, fitting new floors, plus a new engine frame, wiring harness and fuel tank.
The 4.2-litre straight-six engine was fully rebuilt and an uprated alternator was added. Koni dampers have been fitted as part of a complete suspension rebuild, and the braking system benefits from powerful Fosseway four-pot calipers plus vented discs on the front.
A Borg Warner T5 five-speed gearbox has been installed and greatly improves the E-type’s cruising ability, and new chromed wire wheels were fitted. The interior has been retrimmed using English leather and Wilton carpets, and features a modern DAB stereo system.
Having been resprayed red, this superbly restored and intelligently upgraded E-type 2+2 finally returned to the road in 2019, and is now being offered for sale complete with a Heritage Certificate and a photographic record of its rebuild.
MODEL HISTORY
The story of the E-type 2+2 goes all the way back to when the original two-seater was launched in 1961. Jaguar boss Sir William Lyons almost immediately started pushing for a longer, wider version of the groundbreaking design, and during the next couple of years his engineers worked on a project that was designated ‘XJ4’.
In the end, the XJ4 morphed into a very different-looking saloon car that would eventually be launched in 1968 as the XJ6. As for the concept of an E-type 2+2, it was Bob Blake who eventually came up with a design in which the existing E-type was ‘stretched’ by nine inches, and a prototype had been built by August 1964.
After 18 months of testing, the production version was launched in March 1966 at Henlys’Piccadilly showroom. Not only had the wheelbase been lengthened by nine inches, the structure behind the front seats was redesigned in order to accommodate the two small rear seats. It also created enough space for Jaguar to offer the option of a Borg Warner automatic gearbox – a first for the E-type and ideal for the American market.
The mechanical specification was the same as for the two-seater, which meant a 4.2-litre, twin-overhead-camshaft, straight-six engine running on triple SU carburettors, plus Jaguar’s all-synchromesh four-speed manual gearbox. In the UK, the 2+2 cost £2245, which was half the price of an Aston Martin DB6 Vantage.
‘Both the roadholding and riding comfort seem to benefit from the longer wheelbase,’ wrote John Bolster in Autosport, before adding that ‘perhaps the best characteristic of the 2+2 is the wonderful ease with which it covers long journeys.’
The 2+2 model was a great sales success and continued to be offered throughout E-type production. In fact, for the Series 3, Jaguar dropped its short-wheelbase variant and made the more practical 2+2 its sole fixed-head E-type.