- 1964 Jaguar E-type Series 1 3.8 FHC
- Right-hand-drive UK-market car
- Recent ground-up restoration
- Original glass and registration number
- Optional two-year warranty available
Beautifully presented in its original colour scheme of Carmen Red with black interior, this Jaguar E-type Series 1 FHC drives superbly and is an exceptional example of this landmark British sports car.
Built at the Browns Lane factory on 9 January 1964 as a right-hand-drive UK-market car, chassis number 861457 was dispatched to Edinburgh distributor Rossleigh on 27 January. Almost 60 years later it retains its matching-numbers status, being fitted with engine number RA 5006-9, body number V7314 and gearbox number EB 13086 JS.
On 9 April 1983, the E-type was sold by a Mr Davenport to a new owner, a Mr Hammond, for £3250. Mr Hammond would end up owning it for more than 30 years and had a full restoration carried out during the 1980s. All the expenditure is carefully catalogued in the history file, and by June 1989 – when the mileage was noted as being 84,890 – the car was valued at £30,000 due to its ‘full concours rebuild’.
In more recent years, the E-type passed to a new custodian and was once again restored to the highest standard. The extensive work included a rebuild of both the gearbox and differential, and discreet upgrades include stainless-steel brake hoses, an aluminium radiator – which is a popular and sensible E-type modification – an uprated starter motor, and Polybushes for the front suspension.
As a result, this E-Type Series 1 is in exemplary condition throughout. The interior is pristine and the car is perfectly set off by the chrome wire wheels.
It drives equally well – the performance from the 3.8-litre straight-six engine is exceptional, and the fact that a properly sorted E-type still feels like a quick car today serves as a reminder of just what a performance milestone it was in the early 1960s.
Now being offered for sale by The Classic Motor Hub, this E-type Series 1 FHC comes with an extensive history file and is a fine example of one of the most beautiful and coveted cars ever made.
Model history
Jaguar stunned the motoring world when it launched the E-type at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show. Its latest model offered an intoxicating blend of performance and elegance – and at a much lower price than the few cars that could match it in either area.
Aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer came up with one of the most beautiful automotive shapes ever realised, and at a time when 100mph was still a significant figure, the E-type offered 150mph performance from its triple-carburettor, 265bhp, 3.8-litre straight-six engine.
Beneath the skin, it owed much to the Le Mans-winning D-type. It used a monocoque centre section with a subframe carrying the engine and front suspension. At the rear, independent suspension was fitted at a time when many of Jaguar’s rivals still employed a traditional live axle. With the marque having pioneered the use of disc brakes in the early 1950s, it came as no surprise that the E-type featured them on all four wheels.
‘Driving the car is more like flying than motoring,’ wrote John Langley in the Daily Telegraph. ‘On the M1 I found the car would cruise smoothly and quietly at 110-120mph. Bursts of acceleration rushed it up to just over 140mph on two occasions.’
In Autosport, John Bolster added the following: ‘It has a sheer beauty of line which easily beats the Italians at their own particular game’.
The E-type was offered as both a roadster and a fixed-head coupé, and in late 1964 the 3.8-litre engine was enlarged to 4.2 litres. At the same time, Jaguar’s own all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox replaced the original Moss unit.
A long-wheelbase 2+2 model was added to the range in 1966, before the heavily revised Series 2 was eventually introduced in 1968.