Of all the cars of the sixties that have been transformed into icons thanks to the long lens of Nostalgia, the E-Type Jag is surely one of the coolest.
Sure, the Mini gave flight to the dreams of the swinging decade, and put a whole new generation and gender out on the road in a genuinely affordable British runabout encoded with exotic design values.
But combine the E-type’s phallic nose and its carnally sweeping rear with the olfactory delights of the hide-and-walnut interior and you have hands down a car that screamed ‘sex’ like no other. And sex always, of course, equates to cool.
Even in it’s earliest manifestation, the bubble-butted Series I (above), the 3.8 litre engine could propel this love bomb to sixty in a shade over 7 seconds. Enzo Ferrari himself is said to have regarded the car as one of the most beautiful ever made.
The E-Type was pretty, quick and British. Doesn’t come much cooler than that.
And if you don’t believe Enzo, ask Eva.
Now the lascivious plunderings of French comic-book spy hero Diabolik might be stretching the very idea of sexiness to breaking point, but can you imagine what other car of the sixties would suit the PVC happy “master of sports car racing” ?
No. I thought not. Because rather than simply sexy, the E-type is the campest car ever designed.
Just a few comments
The car at the top is not a Series 1, it’s a Series 2.
I think you will find that E-Types never had any wood in their interiors.
As for it being the campest car ever made, I think you should take a look at an Austin Metropolitan for that.
The E-Type is a design icon, it is not camp. Best E-Type is a Series 1 FHC in pale metallic blue.
The series 3, in black, with the V12! That’s the one to have!! My father has one of the last (comemmorative) black ones, so I’m biased!
Roadsters are cool, tin tops not so cool but i would happily have either if you were giving one away in a competition.
MY DAD HAD ABOUT EVERY MODEL MADE BY JAGUAR AND HE LOVED HIS E TYPES SO DID I.GIVE ME A PRIMROSE YELLOW ONE ANYDAY !