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Early E-Type roadsters are the ones to get. They have flush headlight covers and toggle switches on the dash. They are all expensive to restore though, so you might as well start with a good year. This one has many needs, but there’s an interesting story behind it. Supposedly, a previous owner let his daughter take the car out for a drive and she promptly plowed into a parked truck. The damage to the nose was minimal, but they parked the car in the garage sometime in the seventies and that’s where it has sat ever since. I’m not sure if I believe the tale, but you can take a look at the auction listing here on eBay and decide for yourself.
Up to $45K and still not to the reserve. Looks solid but no engine compartment pics or inside trunk. Would have to review how and who has done claimed engine rebuild. Why take it that far and not go to the finish line? Hmm. But, if as solid as it looks and everything checks out, worth much more than current bid
Great car.
The only good thing about great cars being priced so high is, that it makes them worth restoring.
Unfortunately it means that those of us without big bank accounts can’t have them.
Later Series 1 E-Types are better sorted cars than the early ones. My father’s friend had a 61 or 62 Coupe back in the late 1960s, but when I asked him if had driven it the 200 miles where we were meeting in Seattle, his response was: “No, it would have overheated!”
And the flat floors were very uncomfortable on the earliest models. We seem to be on an Etype roll the past couple of weeks. Keep’em coming :-)
BTW, Sarah, you should check out the YouTube video from another Sarah (Dowling) in the UK and her black 1962 coupe. Very similar story to yours.
Along with uncomfortable seats, no syncro in 1st, (+) ground, smaller engine, no factory air, etc. I watched Sarah D’s enjoyable video awhile ago while trolling You Tube.
I can assure you that mine will not be up for sale for many years. I am enjoying driving her too much!
I’ve had a few Jags, XK120, XK150, Mark VII, very early E Type. I always said driving them was an adventure – IF if got you to where you were going, you had no idea if it was going to get you home! The ONLY Jag I ever had that displayed any sort of reliability was also the oldest, and the one I should have never gotten rid of – a 1938 SS100 roadster!.
Funny I had a Series III Double Six from new. Did more than 200,000 KMs (120,000miles), had it serviced regularly and it never let me down. A fabulous car.
Yeah but try doin’ that over here in Yankland where we still use honest to God miles and drive on the right and proper side of the road!! I swear, Jaguars have a special computer chip, and even had it years and years before there even were computers to detect whatever your bank balance or available credit limit is, and once it knows that number, it sends out a message to an appropriate part or component that costs just a little more than you’ve got, to break instantly and leave you stuck there on the side of the road. Maybe this was a North American part only, but it really is the only part of a Jaguar that will always work!!
Oh my goodness, how cool is this one.
This early E-type could be a good one to restore—-expensive, but these are bringing big money if restored well. And if the low miles can be documented that would be a plus. A potential downside is the original black paint color. Some buyers would want the color to be the original, but might not want a black early E-type. It would not be my favorite color for a convertible like this. I can see someone deciding they preferred the car in blue instead of black.
It’s likely there are no engine bay photos because the engine is out of the car for the rebuild. If true that would complicate the shipping. That is one large, heavy straight-six. You would want to check out who did the rebuild and see some documentation, since a part of your purchase cost will be some or all of that rebuild cost.
It would be nice to have more, larger photos, but at least you can see that the metal is in pretty good shape. A good body man should be able to save the bonnet without needing filler, and that’s the kind of man you would want to do the work. The underside looks very good, especially for a car from the rust belt, so likely it was stored all those years and not run in the salty winters.
All in all, one of the more desirable true garage find E-types I’ve seen lately.
PS.
brakeservo: Interesting that your ’38 SS100 was your most reliable. I like that.
Jaguars to me have always been mechanical sex..beautiful cars
But from a reliability standpoint I never drove them too far and if we did I always had friends in another car
I’m sure when tested in front end crash tests they usually passed because there was normally a tow truck in front of them
Mine was cursed by the prince of darkness. .lucas
A properly maintained car using original parts and an experience Jaguar trained mechanic will deliver years and tens of thousands of trouble free miles. They are a complex machine and need to maintained as such.
I agree! These people who constantly try to make jokes about tow trucks and the prince of darkness, most likely went on the cheap not maintaining them properly with other than the best mechanics. My XJ6 Coupe was very reliable even though she was 20 years old when I bought her. I used that car for almost a decade as my daily driver, with only one split rad hose that caused me an hour’s delay in getting back home.
The comments made by my former colleagues didn’t deter my British car ownership. The problem they had was that they bought their old beat up British cars on the cheap, and they were rusted out and worn out by then. No wonder they weren’t reliable, given the next to nothing spent on regular maintenance.
This car looks to be coated in sea salt spray. The salt stain on the garage floor gives it away. What’s up with that?
Reserve not met, $73,100.