Quentin Willson
spots anniversary-year E-type bargains – if you’re handy with spanners
Since when did early 1961 flatfloor 3.8 E-type coupé projects fall below £30,000? Who knew? Bang in the middle of the E-type’s 60th anniversary year celebrations, Bonhams at Bicester knocked down the 418th launch-year FHC for £29,700 - including premium. That car, 7806 UK, has been off the radar for many years, doesn’t appear in any of the chassis number registers, has had one owner since 1971 and is still matching numbers. Surprisingly barn-fresh, there were even old tax discs from 1972 in the glovebox and an original buff logbook.
Yes, it needs everything but most of those first E-types do and I’d rather find a genuine UK car with its original bulkhead and tub, and with lots of early features intact, than pay £80k for a left-hand-drive import that needs roughly the same level of expense to bring back to ’61 spec. And it still wouldn’t have that crucial original tub.
Remarkably, 7806 UK – originally finished in desirable Opalescent Gunmetal Grey – still had its factory alloy radiator, Motorola radio, hand-fashioned tailgate hinges, correct brake and clutch fluid bottles and glassfibre airbox. It’s been modified with open headlights from the Series 1.5 cars, but is otherwise unmolested. I thought this was an incredibly reasonable price for such a special E-type project.
But am I the only one? Has market sentiment for 1961 E-types shifted, or was this just another covid-19 bargain? There’s plenty of historical data to show that early E-type projects usually run at two or three times this price. As examples, the 170th FHC rhd project sold for £74k in 2017, the 221st rhd roadster project made £77k in 2014 and in 2018 two lhd ’61 roadster projects sold for £100k and £90k.
And when you do the sums, this was still a bargain. With a little luck and some careful recycling of original parts, one of the better Jaguar specialists could restore this one for a little over £100k. I know there are firms out there who now quote £300k for a full restoration of an E-type but I’ve now done two, 860022 and 850063, that didn’t cost anywhere near that and both were concours winners. A fully restored
Uk-supplied matching-numbers two-owner flat-floor 1961 FHC that has never seen the light of day since 1972 would probably sell for £170k to £180k because it’s so unrepeatable. There are lots of imperfectly restored ’61 Es on sale for £220k+ so maybe my valuation is on the low side.
But here’s the dirigible-sized question that concerns me most. Have flat-floor E-types fallen out of fashion or did this one just slip through the net while everyone was looking the other way? Because if, in this icon’s 60th anniversary year, such an unrepeatably original example failed to galvanise the interest of E-type enthusiasts, then there may be more weaknesses in values on the horizon.
For now, I’m seeing it as an aberration; another of the under-priced opportunities we’ve seen because of the myriad distractions facing us this year. And if that’s the case then the greatest takeaway is this: that if you know your chassis numbers and restoration costs, you can still buy a launchyear project example of one of the most desirable classics in the world for half the price it should be. That really is good news.