- 1973 Jaguar E-type Series III Roadster for sale
- Presented in concours condition
- Multiple concours winner and magazine cover car
- Extensive history and documentation
- 47k miles from new
Built at the Browns Lane factory in Coventry on 16 June 1973, this Jaguar E-type Series III Roadster was dispatched on 28 August to British Leyland New York. Chassis number 1S 23034 was finished in Dark Blue with French Blue trim, and it’s thought to have stayed in the US until the early 1990s, by which time it was owned by Oscar Fistarol of Sherman Oaks, California.
Originally supplied new to North America the car returned to the UK in 1996, it had been imported to the UK for a keen Jaguar Club member was based in the Midlands. He entrusted the E-type’s restoration to Scott-Moncrieff. Between July and October of that year, the car was stripped all the way down to a bare shell and the project progressed over subsequent months with the differential, suspension, brakes, steering and engine all being rebuilt. The car was also converted to right-hand drive and all aspects of UK specification were adopted.
After a rotisserie restoration the body was resprayed in early 1997 and then the process of reassembly got under way. The E-type was ready to be UK-registered on 1 July that year, using the distinctive number GO 131, and it was soon picking up numerous awards in concours events – as well as featuring on the cover of Jaguar Enthusiast magazine in March 1999.
From 1999 to 2014 the car was barely used so from 2014 – 2016, the engine was stripped and checked and re-built with new core plugs and a full engine flush as part of a re-commissioning by MDS Services, while the manual gearbox, power-steering pump and steering rack were overhauled, too. All of the relevant invoices are included in the car’s extensive history file.
With its longer wheelbase providing more interior room than earlier cars, and the effortless torque from that V12 engine, the Series III is considered by many to be the most practical ‘Grand Tourer’ of the entire E-type range. This beautifully presented and well-sorted example is now offered for sale with a wealth of promotional literature for the model, plus maintenance charts, handbooks and an operation manual. There is also a hardback photo album documenting its restoration and several winners trophies from various Jaguar events.
Model history
Since its launch in 1961, the Jaguar E-type had been powered by the famous six-cylinder XK engine, originally in 3.8-litre form before being enlarged to 4.2 litres. For the Series III, however, an all-new engine was developed.
Engineers Harry Mundy and Walter Hassan came up with an all-alloy, single-camshaft-per-bank, 60-degree V12 with a capacity of 5343cc. Hassan explained that Jaguar’s intention was to sell a lot of cars in America, so they felt that the new powerplant should be ‘something rather better than the run-of-the-mill V8 engines that are in common usage over there’.
He added that the V12 was ‘light, powerful, we’ve proven its reliability and in our opinion it’s well engineered’.
It was originally stated that the Series III would continue to be offered with the 4.2-litre six-cylinder XK engine, but it’s thought that only three such cars were built. The two-seater Fixed-Head Coupé model was dropped from the line-up and the Series III was offered in just Roadster and 2+2 form.
Styling changes included a new grille in a larger front air intake, plus flared wheelarches to accommodate the wider track. UK prices were quoted as being £3122 for the manual Roadster in 1971, with the equivalent 2+2 costing £3369. There was also the option of a Borg Warner automatic gearbox.
The new engine garnered almost universal praise when the latest E-type was launched, Autosport stating that ‘somehow a big V8 seems quite crude after the V12… Perhaps the big surprise of this new car is not just that it is better, but how much better it is.’
With sales falling away in the crucial American market as the 1970s progressed, and an Oil Crisis not offering the ideal conditions in which to offer a 5.3-litre V12, the final E-type was built in September 1974. The engine lived on, however, having been carried over into the new XJ-S.