JAGUAR E-TYPE SERIES 1 (1961-68)

The greatest Geneva Show story is rightfully the one about the greatest car shown there in its 115-year history. It was 1961. After a busy day working on disc brakes at the MIRA test track, Norman Dewis was probably hoping for a pint and a game of darts at the Dog & Duck, or maybe a quiet night in with a mug of cocoa and What’s My Line? on the telly. But then his boss, Sir William Lyons, rang and what happened next instantly passed into motoring folklore.

The appearance of the E-type fixedhead coupé at the Geneva Salon had caused a frenzy of interest, particularly from the press – so Sir William, who recognised an opportunity when he saw one, realised that he needed to get the roadster over there – right now.

Norman set off alone from the test track at 8pm and had to catch the last ferry out of Dover; it was scheduled to leave at 10pm. Two hours from Coventry to Dover – if he was going to have any chance of making it on that boat he would have to drive through central London. Just imagine.

The ferry was still there when he arrived, but boarding had closed and it was about to get going. Britain was different then, though, and realising the importance of Norman’s mission a policeman ordered officials to ensure that they didn’t leave without him.

Landing in a foggy Oostende, Norman then had to get to Geneva for 10am. He made it, and apparently, Sir William’s first words on seeing the car as Norman ran a rag over its exquisite lines were: ‘Thought you’d do it, Dews’. Norman then spent the rest of the day giving demo drives in the roadster. I doubt he told too many of his passengers what he’d been up to the night before.

Geneva 1961 is where the E-type legend begins and I neither know nor care how much of the story of how the two cars made it to the Salon that year is true. What I do know is that if you ask anyone who loves great cars what 9600HP and 77RW are, they’ll tell you that they are the registration numbers of the two Geneva E-types.

And I ask you – how many other show cars are known just by their registration numbers, 60 years on?