“The Most Beautiful Car Ever Made” – A Jaguar E-Type Project Car

The Jaguar E-Type was released in 1961, its good looks and remarkable performance won it fans around the world, famously including Enzo Ferrari who is said to have called it “The most beautiful car ever made.”

The 1967 E-Type you see here is the coupe version, it’s currently being offered for sale in largely complete condition in need of a full restoration to bring it back to its former glory. The good news is that it’s cheap by E-Type standards, but the bad news is that it’s going to need a lot of work.

Fast Facts – The Jaguar E-Type

• The Jaguar E-Type was one of the coolest cars in the world from the moment of its introduction at the Geneva Auto Salon in March of 1961. It offered stunningly good looks, race bred engineering, and a top speed of over 150 mph – an astonishing figure for the time.
• The E-Type itself was essentially an evolution of the earlier Jaguar D-Type that had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in the 1950s in part by using aircraft design and aerodynamics principles.
• The E-Type was produced over three generations between 1961 and 1974, the Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3, with the Series 1 cars generally being accepted as the most desirable.
• The car you see here is a 1967 Series 1 coupe example that is now in need of a full restoration. It comes with the engine and transmission, and the replacement body panels needed to replace the rusted sections.

The E-Type Explodes Onto The Scene

Jaguar had been hard at work on the E-Type, also known as the XKE in the USA, for years before its launch in 1961 at the Geneva Auto Salon. It was the car designed to replace the long-in-the-tooth XK150, and it represented a major generational shift forwards for the British automaker.

The E-Type boasted monocoque construction, independent front and rear suspension, disc brakes on all four corners, a Le Mans-winning straight-six engine with double overhead cams, breathtaking design, excellent aerodynamics, and a top speed of 150 mph (241 km/h).

It should be no surprise then that the E-Type had a long list of celebrity owners including Frank Sinatra, Brigitte Bardot, Peter Sellers, Charlton Heston, Steve McQueen, and Princess Grace among others, and today it enjoys a cult-like following in the classic car world.

Of the three generations of the E-Type, Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3, it’s usually the earlier Series 1 cars with the original styling and the covered headlights that people covet the most. The roadster/convertible and the coupe are both popular, with the later 2+2 model that had a longer wheelbase and notably higher roof line bringing up the rear in the desirability stakes.

E-Types now change hands for considerably more than they did even just 10 years ago, and this increase in values shows no signs of waning. As a result many restoration candidates are finding their way to market, as it makes a lot of economic sense to get them back on the road and salable.

The Jaguar E-Type Project Car Shown Here

The car you see here is a 1967 Series 1 E-Type coupe (or FHC – Fixed Head Coupe), it has the correct engine under the hood and the desirable manual transmission. Unfortunately it also has plenty of rust that’ll need to be repaired.

The good news is that the seller notes that the car comes with brand new Martin Robey replacement panels for the rusted floors, sills, and rear wheel arches. It will be up to the next owner to cut out the old sections and weld in the new.

They’re asking for $42,500 USD for the car and it’s being sold out of Austin, Texas by a Jaguar specialist. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.

Images courtesy of Classic Jaguar.