Description
Back In 1971, Jaguar’s jaw-dropping E-Type had been in production for a decade. Despite continual improvements, new emissions legislation in the all-important American market threatened to strangle the big cat’s performance. Jaguar responded by giving its revered sports car fresh claws in the shape of a 5343cc V12 engine developed from the stillborn XJ13 Le Mans project car. The new engine was both effortlessly powerful and eerily refined. “The turbine-like smoothness with which the engine provides a sustained shove in the back is almost uncanny, the more so when one accelerates hard in top gear without even a gear change to interrupt one’s headlong dash into the distance”. (Autocar 5th July 1973)
With some 272bhp and 304lbft of torque on tap, the Series III E-Type once again had 150mph in its sights. A revised wheelbase yielded better cabin space and together with wider tracks front and rear, new anti-dive front suspension geometry and fatter tyres gave improved road holding. Imbued with a more muscular stance thanks to its flared wheel arches, re-profiled wings and larger grille, it also benefited from vented disc brakes and a restyled interior.
Supplied new to the UK in 1973, this beautiful E-type Roadster underwent a £71,000 restoration in 1996 by a well-known specialist and has covered a mere 8,000 miles since completion. Recorded to have had only three owners since 1984, and offered with a history file dating back to the mid-80s containing additional invoices totalling c.£19,000, this wonderful example is more than ready to be enjoyed in the forthcoming summer months.
