…AND BEST!
Experts from across the industry take their pick from the E-type back catalogue
SERIES 1 3.8
Stephen Bayley DESIGN GURU
Sexual intercourse, as Philip Larkin reminded us, began in 1963: ‘Between the end of the “Chatterley” ban, And the Beatles’ first LP.’ He could have written: ‘Between the end of the Chatterley ban, And the Jaguar XKE.’ Has there ever been a more superlatively epochal product than this bogglingly phallic King’s Road chariot? My taste for the stripped and bare inclines me towards a Lightweight, but my inner archaeologist insists on the original, the UR-E, the source of the creation myth, the end of an era, the pivot on which the ’60s swung. I mean the gunmetal car shown to an astonished media on 15 March 1961 at Geneva’s Parc des Eaux Rives restaurant. Did anybody miss the symbolism of the exuberant Jet d’eau opposite?
Peter Hugo DIRECTOR, WINSPEED MOTOR SPORT
Phew! A big question, because every E-type model ticks an individual’s box. For me, it’s the 1963 3.8 fixed-head coupé. Pure, but with the early design flaws resolved. The harder you spank it, the more responsive it becomes – makes you smile from ear to there!
Professor Gordon Murray CBE CHAIRMAN, GORDON MURRAY DESIGN
There are very few cars in automotive history that are truly beautiful, with perfectly balanced proportions. For me, they have to pass my 360º test – that is, there is no bad angle to view the car from. In theory the E-type, with its incredibly long bonnet and relatively upright ’screen, had the potential to be a styling disaster and yet its proportions are perfect. There was nothing like it before or since. My best E-type is the first one – the S1. Like so many other cars where stylists mess around with proportions and details for a facelift or a new variant, it just doesn’t work. Unusually, I think both the fixed-head coupé and drophead work equally well from a shape and proportion point of view, but it’s the Series 1 that is the icon.
Simon Kidston KIDSTON SA
With any great car you either want the pure original design or the most evolved final version, but unless you own a nightclub or a fashion chain I wouldn’t recommend a V12 E-type. Despite the silky-smooth engine, the podgy styling and character are more Las Vegas-era Elvis than sharpsuited swinging ’60s. Sorry, no question, it’s got to be the original 3.8, either roadster or coupé, in a great factory-delivered colour and without silly modern wheels or obvious mods, thank you.
Adrian Newey OBE CTO, RED BULL RACING
‘Great’ is a very subjective judgement, clearly, but I would say that as usual the first 3.8 ‘flat-floor’ E-type was the one that spawned all the others, and was the car that created a new bar for ‘affordable’ sports cars, therefore it is the one that would get my vote. As a footnote it would be in its fixed-head form, the car that my parents owned and in which I had many memorable journeys lying in the back with my elder brother and Great Dane – less happy when the Great Dane broke wind!
Quentin Willson AUTHOR AND BROADCASTER
No contest: my greatest E has to be an ‘outside bonnet lock’ righthand-drive roadster. Any of those first 56 Jaguar dealer demonstrators parked outside Browns Lane in that memorable, rainy photo of 14 July 1961. The influence, impact and excitement of those first Es would never be repeated. Norman Dewis told me that the public reaction to 77 RW in ’61 was like nothing he’d experienced. And Adam Faith, who had Lofty England’s roadster, said that when he parked, the car would disappear under crowds of admirers. Although he had a record in the top 20, they were interested in only one thing: the brilliant new Jag.
James Knight GROUP MOTORING CHAIRMAN, BONHAMS
I suspect the Lightweight will secure the most votes, and with good reason. However, having said the same thing from the rostrum for the past 30 years each time I offer one, I’ll stick with the Series 1 coupé. Let’s face it, every E-type (with the exception of the 2+2) is a good-looking car, but to me the early coupé is the most attractive of all. The simplicity of line at first glance – until you realise it is far from simple – combined with perfect proportions.
Peter Neumark LVO CHAIRMAN, CLASSIC MOTOR CARS
It would have to be a Series 1 3.8 fixed-head coupé. The purity of the early design, more practical than the roadster and a gem of an engine… and the Moss ’box is okay if you take your time! Remember, it was the coupé that Enzo Ferrari thought was the most beautiful car, and he didn’t have a bad eye.
Ian Callum CBE HEAD OF DESIGN, CALLUM
My favourite has to be an S1. Not necessarily a flat-floor or a Moss ’box, these points are irrelevant to me, but it has to be the dramatic coupé. The totality of form of a fixed-head always wins over a convertible. The first E-type I ever saw was a coupé: I was seven, and that image has endured in my mind; it was pure and correct. Subsequent cars were aesthetically compromised by US legislation. Some S11/2 s escaped such compromise by retaining glass over their headlamps, as well as the attraction of the 4.2 engine. After that the purity was lost for me.
Steve Cropley EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, AUTOCAR
My favourite is the original coupé, as seen in that famous photo of William Lyons standing beside it in Geneva. As a bush-bound 12-year-old, I remember riding home from school a bit faster, just to look again at that muddy black-and-white photo in an Aussie motoring mag. Why the coupé? Because it was miles more beautiful. The original was the miracle. All others merely gilded the lily.
Dan Pink DIRECTOR, JAGUAR CLASSIC
It has to be the original Series 1. Even now, we’re still unearthing rare examples with fascinating tales to tell. We’ve just added one of Lofty England’s 1967 development cars to the collection at Jaguar Classic – a 4.2-litre manual 2+2, which is believed to be the only E-type that left the factory with overdrive and is full of unusual details.
Mckeel Hagerty CEO, HAGERTY
The Series 1 roadster represents the E-type in its purity. People will say that they wish it had more power and an extra gear, but I think it is perfect. In the endless debate of whether it’s better to have the first or the last of this car or that car, when it comes to E-types, first is best. I have a 1966 model and I absolutely love it.
David Whale
CHAIRMAN, FBHVC
It would have to be a fixedhead coupé, and a Series 1. I believe the first iteration of a vehicle is always the most pure: as the stylist envisaged, turned into production reality.