History
of Jaguar E-Type
 The
Jaguar E-Type (UK) or XK-E (US) is a British automobile manufactured by Jaguar
between 1961 and 1974. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive
pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960s motoring. A great success for
Jaguar, over seventy thousand E-Types were sold during its lifespan.
In March 2008, the Jaguar E-Type ranked first in Daily Telegraph list of the "100
most beautiful cars" of all time. In 2004, Sports Car International magazine placed
the E-Type at number one on their list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s.
The E-Type was initially designed and shown to the public as a grand tourer in
two-seater coupé form (FHC or Fixed Head Coupé) and as convertible (OTS or Open
Two Seater). The 2+2 version with a lengthened wheelbase was released several
years later.
On its release Enzo Ferrari called it "The most beautiful car ever made".
The model was made in three distinct versions which are now generally referred
to as "Series 1", "Series 2" and "Series 3". A transitional series between Series
1 and Series 2 is known unofficially as "Series 1½".
In addition, several limited-edition variants were produced:
The "'Lightweight' E-Type" which was apparently intended as a sort of follow-up
to the D-Type. Jaguar planned to produce 18 units but ultimately only a dozen
were reportedly built. Of those, one is known to have been destroyed and two others
have been converted to coupé form. These are exceedingly rare and sought after
by collectors.
The "Low Drag Coupé" was a one-off technical exercise which was ultimately sold
to a Jaguar racing driver. It is presently believed to be part of the private
collection of the current Viscount Cowdray.
Bob Jane won the 1963 Australian GT Championship at the wheel of an E-Type.
The Jaguar E-Type was very successful in SCCA Production sports car racing with
Group44 and Bob Tullius taking the B-Production championship with a Series-3 V12
racer in 1975. A few years later, Gran-Turismo Jaguar from Cleveland Ohio campaigned
a 4.2 L 6 cylinder FHC racer in SCCA production series and in 1980, won the National
Championship in the SCCA C-Production Class defeating a fully funded factory Nissan
Z-car team with Paul Newman.
Lightweight E-Type (1963-1964)
In some ways, this was an evolution of the Low Drag Coupé. It made extensive use
of aluminium alloy in the body panels and other components. However, with at least
one exception, it remained an open-top car in the spirit of the D-Type to which
this car is a more direct successor than the production E-Type which is more of
a GT than a sports car. The cars used a tuned version of the production 3.8 litre
Jaguar engine with 300 bhp (224 kW) output rather than the 265 bhp (198 kW) produced
by the "ordinary" version. At least one car is known to have been fitted with
fuel-injection.
The cars were entered in various races but, unlike the C-Type and D-Type racing
cars, they did not win at Le Mans or Sebring.
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