Jaguar will go retro today by unveiling its ‘new’ model – a revived E-Type race car which will cost wealthy collectors £1 MILLION.
The legendary E-Type from the 1960s is the Jaguar’s best-known car and the Lightweight model is its most sought-after.
Only 12 of the 18 planned cars were ever built between 1963 and 1964 – with Jaguar stunning the auto industry this year by announcing they were to build the remaining six.
The manufacturer, fresh from announcing profits of £10 million PER DAY, will unveil the beautiful new car in Pebble Beach, California today.
Each of the six cars will be built to a specification originated from the last Lightweight E-type produced in 1964.
The cars, which won’t be road legal, will be hand-crafted at the original home of the E-type, Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant in Coventry, England, as part of Jaguar Heritage’s first recreation project.
Under the aluminium body is a 3.8-litre engine which will develop around 340bhp. With the right gearing, the E-Type will be capable of more than 160mph.
The cars, thought to cost around £1 million, will be sold as period competition vehicles and all will be suitable for FIA homologation for historic motorsport purposes.
John Edwards, managing director, Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations which runs the Heritage side, yesterday described the E-Type as “an incredibly exciting project”.
He added: “Special Operations’ remit is to indulge our most discerning and enthusiastic customers’ passion for our cars – including those from our past.
“This is why our Jaguar Heritage division exists. The E-type is an iconic car, and the Lightweight E-type the most desirable of all.
“To be able to complete the intended production run of 18, some 50 years after the last Lightweight was completed, was an opportunity we couldn’t miss.”
Between 1961 and 1975, Jaguar built around 72,500 E-types with the stylish motor regarded as one of the prettiest cars ever built. Enzo Ferrari loved it.
The Lightweight E-Type was raced by the likes of likes of Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Roy Salvadori and now command a #4 million-plus price-tag.
It was around 114kg lighter than a standard E-type, thanks to its all-aluminium body and engine block, lack of interior trim and exterior chrome work and a host of further weight-saving features including lightweight, hand-operated side windows.
For the recreation, Jaguar used state-of-the-art scanning technology to digitally remap the inner and outer surfaces of a Lightweight bodyshell.
The car’s body has 230 individual components and to accurately reproduce the car, Jaguar recorded dimensions and shape down to a fraction of a millimetre.
Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar, said: “With the Lightweight E-type, our focus as a design team has been to ensure justice was done to the original work of Sir William Lyons and Malcolm Sayer.
“Meticulous attention to detail has been everything to us in re-creating this car, just as it is in our contemporary Jaguars.
“I believe the result is a new Lightweight E-type that is as stunning now as the originals would have been when they were new.”
