Jaguar E-type · Articles / Reviews

Not only is the final E-Type the last example of this iconic model but it also represents an end of an era for Jaguar. To mark the 50th anniversary of its assembly, we look at the car’s background before explaining its place in the company’s history.

Join Octane at Monsanto Park, Portugal, to drive the ex-Manuel Nogueira Pinto 1961 Jaguar E-type racer – the most successful of its era.

Jaguar scored a hit with its first home-grown engine, the XK of 1948. But when it came to its second go, it aimed high. And the Jaguar E-type Series 3 was the first beneficiary of the new V12 unit.

We catch up with a remarkably original Series 3 E-Type in that rarely seen ’70s hue of Heather.

This Semi-Lightweight E-type has shrugged off 60 years of racing scraps and scrapes while retaining unbroken provenance – today we follow Protheroe, Vestey, Mansell and Unser into the driver’s seat.

Jaguar might have pulled out of international motorsport in the mid ’50s, but with privateer teams competing with the E-Type soon after its debut in early 1961

Not only was this 1961 E-Type the first open-two-seater to feature factory seat belt mountings but it was later transformed into an evocation of the rare Lightweight model.

Thanks to spending much of its life in pieces, this 1971 E-Type is one of the most original Series 3s we’ve seen.

If you’re not a slave to originality, the Series 3 E-Type has massive potential. We sample one man’s vision of a sharper V12 with input from some famous Jaguar names.

We discover the startling transformation which can be gained from applying modern gearbox technology to older Jaguars.

When Darren and Lucy Arnold bought an early E-type 20 years ago, they didn’t know the car had a fascinating motorsport pedigree. We investigate the newly restored car’s past.

Jaguar’s foray into five-speed gearbox manufacture revealed through a rare prototype escapee.

This car was one of the first Jaguar E-types Britain saw, be it in action at Shelsley Walsh, or as Browns Lane’s local demonstrator. Today we drive it.

The title of Autocar magazine’s article in October 1967 said it all: ‘Bertone-Jaguar: no dream car – but not for you and me’. This one-off gran turismo wasn’t the first Bertone-bodied Jaguar, witness the Franco Scaglione-styled XK150 and Marcello Gandini-designed ‘FT’ that was based variously on S-type and 420 saloon foundations for Italy’s marque concessionaire, Ferruchio Tarchini. However, in this particular instance, there was no intention of making the Pirana in even the most limited of numbers. It was a concept queen, and a compelling one.

Wanting an E-type for sprints and hill climbs, Darren Tyre has transformed a lowmileage Series 2 fixedhead coupe into a fast, unique and well-developed racer