Jaguar E-type Series 1 4.2
TIPPED BY: JAMES MITCHELL
James Mitchell sees a lot of Jaguar E-types and has an interesting take on their recent market history.
‘I think it’s a very confused market at the moment,’ he says. ‘E-types are relatively fragile cars, with that mix of a monocoque body and spaceframe front end, and people don’t pay enough attention to structural condition. Some pretty bad cars have made extremely high prices at auction, while less shiny but perfectly sound, honest cars have slipped through at bargain bids.’
He feels that decent S1 4.2-litre fixed-head coupés were trading as high as £125k-175k at their peak a few years back, but have now come down to £75k-125k. Some of this is down to the ill-bought cars dragging the good stuff down, but as he points out, the market as a whole has stepped off its peak of the mid to late teens.
‘The tide lifts all boats but also drops all boats,’ he says. ‘I think a good Series 1 4.2 from 1964 to ’66 should be £125k, but it currently isn’t. It should also be a sweet spot in the E-type range – it offers the same looks as a 3.8 Series 1, before the visual changes for the Series 1½, but with more torque and a better gearbox than a 3.8.’
James says that home-market, right-hand drive-cars fetch a deserved premium but even so, there are bargains to be had.
‘I would look for cars with little restoration work done. I’d want to see plenty of original metal, original interior and exterior trim. They may not be the sharpest-looking E-types around, but these cars will usually be low owner, modest mileage, really good, honest examples. If you find a car claiming to be fully restored for sale below £100k, it’s unlikely that it will have been restored properly.’