VERY Early 1961 E-Type Roadster Project – SOLD!

Sorry – you missed her! She’s on her way back home to the UK for a “no expense spared” total restoration – by a descendant of one of the E-Type’s original designers! So once again, we found another great E-Type a great new home – Thank You, Scott!

What an incredible find!!! This is approx. the 450th LHD E-Type Open Two-Seater (roadster) built – and approx. the 600th E-type built overall! Of course, it is a flat-floor car, and is less than 75 cars after the outside bonnet latch cars – and as a result, still carries the mounting holes and bonnet bumpers for the outside latch cars. It is ALL numbers-matching, still carries its original welded-louver bonnet, and… it RUNS!

Photos – There are many photos of the car below, and additional photos can be seen at the following link: DOZENS of Photos available – CLICK HERE!

Videos – I also have two videos of the engine running – one is included below, and the other can be viewed at this link: 1961 E-Type OTS – Video #1 – CLICK HERE!.

Shipping – I have helped several enthusiasts ship E-Type projects overseas, and am experienced in the process… I would be happy to help you in this regard, including safe transportation to the shipping port in Elizabeth, NJ in an enclosed trailer for a modest fee.

Here she is! This is a GREAT candidate for restoration, and a VERY RAE E-Type that is WELL worth the time and expense! This LHD roadster is one of the first 500 built, is all numbers-matching, and has a very solid, original, flat-floor, welded-louver body shell!

All Numbers Matching!

This is a completely numbers-matching car – all numbers have been checked by me personally. A Heritage certificate has also been obtained, and confirms these numbers as well. The engine block and head match each other and the number on the car’s data plate and the Jaguar Heritage certificate, and the gearbox also matches as well. The original front chassis “picture frame” is still present, and factory stamped. In the attached photos, the last digit of the car’s chassis number has been removed – this is so that the car will not be added to the xkedata website until the new owner cares to do so…

The car’s body tag, riveted into the boot, is 3 digits off from the Data Plate and Heritage Certificate – reading R1605 instead of R1602. This is a common occurrence on early E-Types – a fact which is well documented in several publications, and I will stake my reputation that this IS the original body and body tag – it is in the original body paint color, and does not appear to have ever been removed. In addition, it appears to have been “crossed out” with a yellow crayon – which were commonly used at the factory to write the car’s body number on the firewall and other locations – and I believe this is a factory “correction”…

This is the recently obtained Heritage Certificate, which shows that this car is entirely numbers-matching, and still includes its original factory-installed engine and gearbox. IT also confirms the original, superb color combination of black with red leather. The provenance of this E-Type is EXCELLENT!

The original Data Plate is still intact, and as you can see, matches all numbers on the Heritage certificate above. The last digit of the chassis number has been omitted so that the new owner may choose to make the car known to the world at their discretion…

I have personally checked ALL of the car’s numbers – block, head, gearbox case and cover, chassis picture frame, and body tag – everything is 100% original and correct. An E-Type engine this early that is all original and complete – and runs – is worth a small fortune itself in the current market!

Currently silver with a black interior, this E-Type was originally delivered in black with a red interior – a very stunning and desirable color combination for an E-Type roadster! This is documented on the car’s Heritage certificate, and can also be plainly seen on areas of the car that still carry the original factory paint, plus a few remnants of the original interior.

History

The car is being sold as a project needing total restoration, but currently DOES run smoothly, and has a working clutch and all gears have been tested and work fine. The brakes are not currently operational, and so the car has only been driven short distances to ensure that all gears in the gearbox are functioning. Two separate videos of the car running are included – one taken earlier this Spring by the current owner. The other was taken by me personally this morning, and shows 50 lbs. of steady oil pressure at moderate RPM.

This E-Type was last registered and driven regularly in Pennsylvania in 1977. The previous owner purchased the car as a second E-Type in it’s current condition in 1985, and it has been stored in a dry garage for the past 31 years, where it was found and purchased by the current owner approximately 6 months ago. He is a lifelong professional British Car mechanic, who once owned a reputable repair shop in our area. I have known him for over 30 years, and actually purchased my first E-Type from him. He brought the car back to his home shop, and simply changed the oil and rebuilt the SU carbs, and the engine fired up and ran smoothly.

Here she is coming out of a 30-year hibernation in this garage – approx. 6 months ago. Note that the bonnet mouth looks smaller than usual – that is CORRECT for a car this early with an original welded-louver bonnet – which has a mouth slightly smaller from top to bottom than the typical Series 1 bonnet. This is a little-known feature of the very early cars, that is basically IMPOSSIBLE to duplicate!

MANY Early Features!

As a VERY early flat-floor E-Type – built in August of 1961 – this car has literally DOZENS of rare, early parts and pieces! A new, extremely comprehensive and ridiculously detailed book on E-Type originality – specifically focusing on the early cars – is currently in the final stages of publication and will be released very soon – I just spoke to the author about it directly at length last week. Once the book is released, the assumption is that early E-Type values will increase dramatically, and this is precisely the car that is being focused on – VERY early, and with many parts that are noticeably different than the average E-Type. Specifically:

Original welded-louver, welded-flange bonnet
Flat Floors as well as a flat rear bulkhead
Wiper motor dated 6-61
Early (and pricey!) triple-eared air balance tube with early throttle linkage
“Pumpkin” painted 9:1 compresion head vs. later Gold painted heads
Original round brake bottles
Early oblong ashtray without wings
Super rare “double” rear decklid hinges
Two-piece door skins
Still has the outside bonnet latch mounting holes with blanking screws
Still has the bonnet “bumpers” on the outer edges of the cowl
Studs versus bolts in the bonnet carrier bracket
And many, many more!

This picture really says it all about how early this car is! When I was a kid working at the Jag shop, the “double boot lid hinge” was kind of a thing of legend – You heard people talk about it, but you wondered if it ever REALLY existed!

Condition

The original “flat floor” body shell is quite solid for an E-Type of this age. Some minor repairs have been made to the LH floor panel with fiberglass, but otherwise, I see almost zero heavy rust. The car still has ALL of it’s original body panels – it has not been “restored” in the past… The car has suffered minor collisions – in both the back and the front – but aside from cosmetic damage to the metalwork at both ends, there is no substantial body damage. Any panels needed to repair the damage to the tail are readily available and can be supplied by us with the car if desired.

The bonnet is the original welded-louver, welded-flange bonnet from THIS car! It does have rust and accident damage, and will need a total restoration that includes metalwork, but this is typical of all original E-Types bonnets. This one IS restorable – and these early bonnets have become essentially impossible to find! I am being asked more and more frequently to “reproduce” these early bonnets, using later bonnets as donors, and the value of this original early bonnet – even in its current state – is considerable.

AN original welded-louver bonnet – in the current market, you can literally “name your price” for one of these! Very few 1961 E-Types that survived made it through the last 55 years with their original bonnet, and people are DYING to get their hands on an original – this one has been with this car since it left Brown’s Lane!

The engine DOES RUN – and shows 50+ lbs. of oil pressure at approx. 2500 RPM. The gearbox shifts smoothly and operates in all forward gears and reverse – which of course also indicated that the rear differential is OK. The brakes are currently non-functioning. All components on the car are either original pieces or period replacements, and all components appear to be in good restorable condition, but the project is of course being sold in AS-IS condition, as a project car needing total restoration of all components.

Overview

This is an EXCELLENT early E-Type project – and an EXTREMELY RARE E-type as well – with a chassis number well UNDER 500! These early cars are becoming more valuable every year, as E-type enthusiasts continue to search for E-Types that “stand out” within the 6-year run of Series 1 cars that are virtually unchanged and indistinguishable from one another… In contrast, the early cars are noticeably different – even to the casual observer. To an E-Type aficionado, they are simply irresistible – and as a result, their value continues to skyrocket well beyond the value of the typical E-Type. This car is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and an “investment-grade” E-Type!

That being said, one might ask why the current owner is willing to sell such a car at this time? The simple answer is that he has two… This car and another nearly identical car built only a few weeks later were purchased by him from the same estate at the same time – that of one of his good customers from many years ago, who was an early student of these 1961 E-Types… He has chosen to keep the other car – the later of the two, as it is more of a going concern and not quite ready for a restoration, so he is enjoying it as-is, and has decided to let this one go.

If you have the desire to own an E-Type from the early days of production – Summer of 1961, and what some call the “pre-Production” cars – then don’t let this opportunity pass you by! If you could go back in time and walk up to the Jaguar display at New York, London, or Paris in the Spring of 1961 – and ordered your new black roadster right then and there – THIS E-TYPE is what would be delivered to you a few months later! With it’s early features, nuances, and yes, even minor “flaws” – THIS was the car that stopped the hearts of the entire motoring press – and the world – in 1961!

The car is so close to the outside bonnet latch cars - less than 75 cars later - that it stall carries the mounting holes for them on the sills, AND still has these bonnet bumpers on the outer edges of the forward bulkhead. Early details like this are EVERYWHERE on this E-Type!

The car is so close to the outside bonnet latch cars – less than 75 cars later – that it still carries the mounting holes for them on the sills, AND still has these bonnet bumpers on the outer edges of the forward bulkhead. Early details like this are EVERYWHERE on this E-Type!

In Conclusion

This is a flat-floor, welded-louver, Series 1 E-Type roadster – built in the Summer of 1961 – with a chassis number BELOW 500 – that is 100% numbers-matching and already confirmed with the Heritage Certificate – in the stunning and desirable original color combination of black/red – and is 99% complete, original, and currently RUNS!

For anyone who loves and appreciates the early cars, THIS is the one you have been waiting for – DON’T MISS IT!