1963 Jaguar E-Type

• Original UK-supplied RHD car
• Superbly restored between 2000 and 2009, including engine overhaul
• Later all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox fitted (original gearbox is supplied)
• Large history file with original logbook, restoration invoices and photographs

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION

This beautifully presented Jaguar E-type is an original right-hand-drive UK-market car that was completed at the Browns Lane factory on 6 June 1963. 

The Heritage Certificate that’s part of its comprehensive history file shows that chassis number 861205 was finished in Cream with a Red interior, and dispatched on 18 June to Highfield Motors in Derby. From there, it was sold to its first owner, an HV Davies of Sutton Coldfield.

The E-type was later taken off the road and placed in storage between 1987 and 2000, when a conversation at a Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club event led to it being sold from its long-term family ownership. It was in need of a full restoration, but fortunately its new custodian had been an apprentice sheet-metal worker and fabricator, and had restored cars before. 

Fitting the project around his full-time job, he spent the next nine years returning the E-type to its former glory. The car was completely stripped down, and the whole tub was then sandblasted and placed on a rotisserie. Restoring the bodywork involved fitting new footwells, sills, front wings and door skins, plus extensive repairs elsewhere. The car was then resprayed in the very attractive period colour of Pale Primrose. 

The mechanical side of the project including rebuilding the braking system and adding stainless-steel flexi hoses, and installing new dampers at each corner. A new steering rack was fitted, and a Rob Beere Racing adjustable reaction plate was specified for the front suspension. 

In addition to the original straight-six engine being rebuilt, the rear axle was overhauled with all new bearings, seals and bushes, and the propshaft gained new UJs. A full Classicfabs exhaust system was also fitted along with having the radiator recored. 

Rotherham-based specialist Ken Verity fitted an interior trim kit that had been supplied by BAS International, and a new wiring loom was installed. 

The E-type was back on the road in March 2009, having had no expense spared in terms of its restoration. It was then kept in a cocoon in a garage, and a photographic record of the rebuild comes with the car.

More recently, the current owner had the original gearbox rebuilt and placed to one side (it is included in the sale) and a later all-synchromesh Jaguar gearbox rebuilt and installed, a change that greatly enhances the superb driving experience this car offers.

Still looking resplendent in Pale Primrose, it is a superb example of the Series 1 3.8 Fixed-Head Coupé – a model that many consider to be the most desirable of all production E-types. 

MODEL HISTORY  

Jaguar stunned the motoring world when it launched the E-type at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, and beneath its curvaceous Malcolm Sayer-designed bodywork was a layout that owed much to the Le Mans-winning D-type.

The E-type retained that car’s central monocoque structure with a front subframe for the engine, but replaced the D-type’s live rear axle with independent suspension all round. With Jaguar having pioneered the use of disc brakes in the 1950s, it came as no surprise that the E-type featured them on all four wheels. 

The new model was introduced with the 3.8-litre, triple-carburettor, straight-six engine from the outgoing XK 150 S and early road tests produced a sensational top speed of 150mph – at a time when 100mph was still a significant figure.

When John Bolster tested a pre-production E-type for Autosport, he wrote that it was ‘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… yet it has a sheer beauty of line which easily beats the Italians at their own particular game.’

E-type production slowly ramped up through 1961, and updates came thick and fast as Jaguar struggled to keep up with demand. In 1962, the ‘flat floors’ were modified in order to provide the driver with more room around the pedals, and in late 1964 the engine was enlarged to 4.2 litres. At the same time, a Jaguar gearbox with synchromesh on all four speeds replaced the previous Moss gearbox. 

A long-wheelbase 2+2 model was added to the range in 1966, and the heavily revised Series 2 followed in 1968. The V12-engined Series 3 then took the E-type through to the end of production in 1975.