While some sellers of project cars may use bikini-clad models to sell their wares, this 1968 Jaguar XKE E-Type roadster is offered with a man you do not what to trifle with behind the wheel. Well, that’s my impression at least, but I certainly wouldn’t mess with this gentleman. I would like to know more about his backyard collection (and the great stone building in the background) as there seems to be more than just the E-Type worth perusing. Find the Jaguar here on Hemmings for $37,500.
This is technically a Series 1.5 model, which is a bit of a rare bird. The Series 1.5 cars combined select features of the Series 1 and Series 2 cars, and with just under 2,500 Series 1.5 roadsters made, you don’t come across them often. It did lose the enclosed headlights, but the seller has retrofitted his car with those components. It did, however, come with the preferred Series 1 taillights. The toggle-style switchgear didn’t make the cut, however, so you’ll need a genuine Series 1 for that.
While it does look like a bit of a project, the seller claims you can get in and drive this E-Type without issue. It has a manual gearbox and has been with the seller for 45 years. All in all, there’s a lot to like here from the long-term ownership history to the rare Series 1.5 spec to having three pedals. We don’t get any details about this Jaguar’s mechanical history, but one would assume a runner like this has been looked after. The description mentions that a stash of spare parts will be included with the sale, along with a clean New Jersey title.
Bodywork can be a concern with any E-Type, but this one looks reasonably solid in photos. I’d like to know more about the floor condition if I was a buyer, mainly because it has presumably been in New Jersey all this time. The white-letter radials are an interesting touch and add to the charming qualities this Jaguar possesses of just being a solid driver. The temptation is always there to make an E-Type look like new given how beautiful it is, but I’d own this one as a scruffy driver without hesitation.
I didn’t know Uncle Jesse drove a Jag!
How did they get a cardboard cutout of me? I can hear it now, “I won’t let go of my Jag until I’m dead and gone, consarnit”,,,
Get off my grass!
There’s long term ownership, and then there’s long term neglect.
That’s the guy that sold Arnie Christine.
took the words out of my mouth!! hahahaha
So I DID see a leather back brace in there!
Does the corpse go with the car?
It was Bernie’s jag dude. Of course it comes with the car.
So bad, but you had me rolling with that comment!!!
Seriously though no undercarriage photos?
The main question is for how many years has he been hopping in and driving around without air filters for the engine?
Man, if this is an actual runs/drives/stops car, to have a ratty E Type that you can get in and drive for less than $40k would be awesome. Change the fluids, hit that paint with some compound and a buffer, clean it up, fix as you go…
***I agree 110%*** I had a 1969 XKE coupe, with similar patina and flair, and that is pretty much the whole picture for those who long for an older original English driver with original wire wheels!
Overpriced. 5000$ estimated from the pics. Maybe 2000$
then in person. Calm down uncle Jesse.
I’m really not so sure it’s overpriced. If it’s in running condition which the seller states and has a decent inventory of spare parts with it it quite possibly could be well worth the asking price. Combine that with the fact that it’s relatively rare and you may have a great deal! Of course as mentioned by others some photos of the undercarriage showing rust etc. would be Req before purchase.
I understand Mangus Walker is doing his thing on E types.
Do the squirrels and chipmunks come with?
Has he been sitting in it the whole time? Kinda looks like it.
First thing I thought when viewing him sitting in the car was that it looks like he hasbeen there for the whole 45 years! (pun intended)
I have always been a fan of Survivor scars of inperfection and a fan of the Vintage “gentelmens sport car” Jags.. Not often do you find the combination of the two. Add in the 1.5 model Rarity and you got yourself a very cool Canyon runner in a world filled with souless Hondas ,Toyotas and Teslas. I may have to bid on this one
Great comment on the Tesla. This old dude was out in the LT1, 6-speed,1995 Corvette today and a white Tesla passed me and it dawned on me as I said to myself- “Self, that ain’t a car, it’s a battery”. If that is the future of driving (And it sure looks like it is), I hope my Actuarial Table Life-Span estimate is 95% accurate.
“That’s not a car, that’s just an internal-combustion engine.”
Go for it and keep us posted!
All six cylinder roadsters and coupes had “three pedals”. Only the 2+2 Series 1 and 2 had optional automatics. The V-12 Series 3s, be they OTS or 2+2 FHCs, could both be ordered either with a manual gearbox or an automatic. It’s quite simple, actually: the automatic did not fit in cars with the original wheelbase, whereas they did in the elongated 2+2.
Gone the toggles, but a good thing. In 1959, in a city, a woman pulled over in front of me, so I had to stop, she had a ’56 Mercury, toddler in the front seat (no car seat or seat belts) had hit his forehead on a protruding knob when she made a sudden stop, it had actually pushed a big dent in his forehead. This was long before 911. She wanted me to drive her to her daughter’s school, so she could get her daughter, and then to the hospital for the kid. I parked my car, and being 16 and not knowing much, drove her to her daughter’s school where she got her daughter, and then to the hospital, and then, the hospital people told me how to get a bus to get back to my car. Nuts, but, replacing the lethal knobs and toggle switches was a good move.
Some people make such a big deal about the toggle switches being so much cooler than the rocker ones. Safety aside, to me it’s 50/50. While I have a slight preference for the toggles on a one-on-one basis, the Series1 had but six toggles. The Series 1.5 and onwards had ten rocker switches, plus an extra gauge above. The rocker switches are also about three times more durable than the toggles. I suppose some people are so extremely partisan about these things because when it comes to E Type Jaguars, you are dealing with art on wheels, and not an ordinary means of transportation.
The owner’s probably the kindest fellow in the world… really. Why all the heartless comments?
One hundred comedians out of work and you know what they do?? Write in to Barn Finds comments in their copious free time.
In this hobby you gotta have a well defined sense of humor.
Dude, I’m retired. You should be so lucky!
Because it is the internet and people enjoy putting down on strangers.
I get that the car needs restoration but, at least before you take photos, to sell the Jag, vacuum the forest litter from the interior and engine bay. That’s ridiculous.
?? I would much rather have the seller shall the car like this, in the condition it actually is in instead of making it “Pretty” for the pictures! If it looks pretty you have no idea how the car with action maintained during its life.
Dude , I was thinking the same thing. that being said, I bought a 62 corvette with faded paint, dirty as dog ballz, “forest litter” inside and out.. The price went down in the eyes of the other bidders. Turns out it was a great purchase. Paint cleaned up to 95% and my vacume was full… great deals can be found in cars with bad photos in my opinion
Being a Ser 1.5 doesn’t add anything to this Jags value. Ser 1 cars are more desirable and therefore more valuable despite being produced in greater numbers. Ser 1.5 cars are positioned between the 1 and 2 series in value. Ser 3 OTS 4 speed cars can also more valuable than a Ser 1.5, always depending on condition, originality, etc.
Age discrimination!! :)
Didn’t he sell Arnie CHRISTINE?
Only 7 photos, and in Canada.
Never mind! It is an old car that happens to be an E-type, and for most, that is good enough. If it was a nice one, it would be on Bring a Trailer and it would be priced around 50,000, but it’s not.
Man, when I saw this ad on Hemmings, I knew that it had to be submitted to Barn Finds. Both the car and the owner.
He reminds me of Bob Weir, but the guy who sold Christine hits it right on the head!
Somebody please give this beautiful car a good home. Not sure if the numbers make sense so it looks like another labor of love investment.
You’ll have to pry my Jag out of my cold dead hands!
Junk when it was new, old junk now.
Yeah right! I have yet to hear of an American car being known worldwide as “The Most Beautiful Car in the World.”
Wow! You’ve never seen a ’63 Corvette Stingray?
Tri 5 Chevy
Tri Five Chevy? Now you are really talking junk in comparison to any Jaguar, let alone an XKE. As for the Corvette of any year, although some of them don’t look too bad, they are in no way comparable to an E Type, IMO. Each to his own I guess.
The ? Was hear of a America car known world wide,you got 2 answers chill out dude.
Nope. The questions was “ever hear of an American car known worldwide as ‘the most beautiful car ever made'”? (Enzo Ferrari). The answer, of course, is “No.”
That’s why “junk” like this, when nicely restored, commands six figure numbers. The free market doesn’t agree with you. You have clearly never owned or driven one in good shape.
I’d still like to have it but not at that price and so far away…
I think he looks like Jeff Daniels
I’ve just wasted good time reading these comments.
The photo of the owner very much reminds me of Jack O’Neill, California surf wetsuit pioneer, in his long-owned Jaguar XK140 DHC. Google for Hagerty’s article: “Surf icon Jack O’Neill’s unlikely Jaguar XK140”
Dream bigger , I think you should ask least 57, 000.
It has plenty of plus’s
Dave K
Price is spot on asking in my opinion.
Complete resto? Throw in a$100k or so and you will have a real nice investment car that you can drive a bit and expect value to hold or increase.
Agreed. There’s a nice Ser 1.5 on BaT right now sitting at $75 k with 6 hours left to go. If the bidders are there, it will likely go for $120 or so.
Sold for $110,000
Sorry, all you geography buffs, but Linden, NJ is not in Canada.
Note to Jeff Lavery: a 1968 E Type is a real, genuine, honest-to-goodness Series I…full stop. The factory only ever raised the issue of giving the E Type a Series designation in late ’68, when what the factory referred to as a Series II was unveiled.
What is nowadays referred to as a Series 1.25 is a late 1967 Series I, whose only deviation is uncovered and protruding headlamps. It still has the triple SUs, eared knock-offs and toggle switches. What Jaguar enthusiasts nowadays UNOFFICIALLY refer to as a Series 1.5, which was built between January and the summer of ’68, retained the uncovered headlights, but now sported twin Zenith-Stromberg carbs with (in the U.S. only) an exhaust to intake/inlet manifold tube to heat the fuel emulsion, earless knock-offs, new easier-to-clean wire wheels, rocker switches, unpolished steering wheel with the chrome ring around the badge painted black, hugely-improved crossflow radiator ( first ever), twin powerful (for their day) electric fans (also a global first) and much better brakes (bigger and with triple stainless steel callipers…yet another global first in ’68).
Most has already been mentioned. S1.5/SII are the best driving E types. I’ve sold both ‘68 coupe & OTS roadsters and regret every minute of it. The triple SU carb setup howls and makes a sound no other car can make. I wish I had a museum/ warehouse to store every car I’ve owned. BTW – Linden is where all the NJ refineries are located in Union County.
I’m guessing that his trust fund finally dried up and he is starting to liquidate.
I can’t believe this just sold for $110k. Take a look at the Series 1 that Tyler Hoover just bought for $69k. Numbers matching, full provenance and it was owned by the same owner for 50 years. It came with full handwritten service history, all manuals and the original British made hammer for removing the wheels. Whoever just bought this one was a sucker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwj9dkxFkD0
Ward, how did this sell for $110k? It was not even a auction, and the asking price is $37,500.
I see the confusion now. I was just replying to another person here who posted that “it” sold for 110. Anyhoooo, That one Hoovie just bought is beautiful.And worth way more than the 69k he paid for it.
Were did you find that it sold for $110K? If you go back to look at the original ad on Hennings it doesn’t even indicate that it was sold. Also as mentioned by the other poster it wasn’t an auction.
Mark, i see know how he got that $110k, if you scroll up you will see Tompdx say sold for $110k, but he was talking about one on another auction.
Wow, he got lucky, for once. Most of his purchases are embarrassing, but make for a good show.