Would you like to take this for a spin?

They reckon that if you want to keep an idiot interested in the short term, you give him a piece of paper with ‘Please turn over’ printed on both sides. Editor Kev, on the other hand, knows that if you want to keep this scribe interested in the long term, you promise him an E Type Jaguar to write about. And that’s exactly what he did. I doubt that there would be anyone out there who dates from my era who has not lusted after an E Type Jaguar at some stage and I’m sure that many of you still do. Even if you have not been up close and personal with one it is not hard to understand their attraction. (The E Types, not the blokes lusting after them.)

And, whether you like it or not, here’s some background on the beast. (Beast? Jaguar – get it?) March 16 1961, when I was still at boarding school in Auckland, the Geneva Motor Show on the other side of the globe opened its doors to the public and it became obvious that the star of the show was going to be Jaguar’s new 150mph E Type sports car which was unveiled in coupe form. My boarding school’s library had limited reading for the English car fans, but there was a preponderance of Saturday Evening Posts, which had those memorable advertisements for American cars, so anything British had to be pretty striking to divert my attention away from (for example) 1959 Cadillacs. The new E Type certainly did this for the younger schoolboys who (mostly) did not know what ‘phallic shape’ meant, but all were certainly in awe of the modernistic lines and claimed performance. I mean the E Type looked like it was going 150mph even when it was parked. My first glimpse of one, albeit in 35mm form, was at the local picture theatre on a Saturday afternoon during the intermission commercials. The E Types began sporting some of the more humorous bumper stickers, including my all-time favourite, “Running in, Please Pass. It may be the only opportunity you’ll ever get.” Maybe not so relevant now, but in the 1960s and 1970s if an E Type had passed my Mark I Zephyr when I was going flat out, I’d have probably thought that I’d stopped and then got out to see why – such was the speed differential.

The E Type was developed from the C Type and D Type racers, and it’s not hard to see why.

Sir William Lyons was one of the British motor industry’s outstanding personalities, and was the creator of the SS and Jaguar marques. Sir William was reportedly curiously ambivalent about the E Type, possibly because he thought it may not sell in the same numbers as did his saloons. Of the two body styles he much preferred the closed version. At £2,196 it was £99 more expensive than the roadster. Like the open car it was an uncompromising two-seater but there was a roomy luggage platform with access by a rear-opening door. It was reportedly slightly faster than the open version, due to its greater weight being offset by the aerodynamic superiority of a closed body over an open one.

More popular in Britain than in the mainstream American market, the E Type benefitted from a 4.2 litre power plant in 1965. In 1966 it was joined by a 2+2 version which was only available in closed form and that is the example I finally got up close and personal with for this Behind the Wheel article, thanks to George and Maryanne Kear, here in Christchurch. And I got to drive it as well. How good is that?

George and Maryanne’s E Type is a 1966 4.2 litre 2+2 and although assembled in Britain it was exported new to the USA. Initially painted in pearlescent green, the Yanks wanted it in primrose, so it was repainted prior to export. It was still primrose (albeit with some evidence of gloss loss) when in May 1997 the original USA owner in Scottsdale, Arizona, listed it for sale in Hemmings, a local car trade magazine, along with a Jaguar 3.8 S Type. You could have them both for US$6,750. The advertisement read, “Jag ’67 XKE 2+2, 73,000 miles, 4-speed with air, runs, but needs brakes. Also included 3.8 S type. US$6,750 for both.” Mutual friends Wayne and Jeanette Robson (VCC Nelson), then resident in Sacramento, California, spotted the advertisement and alerted George here in New Zealand. George promptly arranged for the Robsons to fly to Arizona to check it out. While it was located in Arizona, the car was registered in Ohio because Ohio has less stringent emission controls. (Thanks for nothing, Ralph.) It was not a runner because of some fool ‘repairing’ the petrol tank with a cheap sealant of some sort that promptly dissolved with the USA’s crap unleaded petrol and then found its way through the petrol lines and into the motor – the reason why it no longer ran. The owner had by-passed the fuel system by connecting a tin of gas to the carburettors – hence the claim that it ran. The owner had started to dismantle the car with the intention of restoring it, but he had subsequently managed to source an E Type roadster, so the coupe and the S Type had to go. George negotiated with the owner and they eventually agreed on a price which George told me was a steal. (And believe me, it was.). Despite how it looked in the Arizona photos the car was very much complete, and the visible rust was only minor. It just remained for George to arrange to get it transported from Arizona to Los Angeles and then on to San Francisco, where it was packed into a double-decked container with five other cars. The E Type was placed on a platform above a Mustang. Unfortunately a forklift was used and at some stage the bonnet suffered some damage as a result. George was present for its unloading when the container was eventually delivered to Port Lyttelton and the all-up cost landed was just under NZ$12,000 which included the costs of the flights and accommodation for the Sacramento-based friends.

Read the full story, this issue available on Issuu.com to purchase.