We typically focus on new vehicles and concepts here at Form Trends, but when news came that Jaguar was putting the E-Type back into production for a limited run, we just couldn’t help ourselves. Plus, it’s allowed us to post some gratuitous images of one of our favorite cars.
Produced between 1961 and 1975, the E-Type is the quintessential sports car. Long, low, sleek and possessing masculine and feminine qualities, it’s quite simply one of the most irresistible and desirable cars ever made. Just over 72,500 were built during its 14 year run. And now the British company will be building a few more.
This isn’t just any E-Type though, it’s a ‘Lightweight’ model, built in 1963 by Jaguar’s competition department and homologated for GT competition. Known as the ‘Special GT E-Type Cars’, the Lightweight included all-aluminum monocoque and aluminum body panels, aluminum-block, wide-angle head, dry-sumped 3.8-liter XK engine with fuel injection and an aluminum hardtop. All chassis numbers carried an ‘S’ prefix.
Thanks to the extensive use of aluminum in its construction, the Lightweight was approximately 114kg (250lb) lighter than a standard E-Type and featured a host of additional weight-saving features. It was devoid of interior trim, lacked the exterior chrome work and was fitted with hand-operated side windows.
Only 12 complete cars were ever built — 11 are believed to survive today — but that wasn’t the intended production run of 18. The remaining six designated chassis numbers have been gathering dust in Jaguar’s Coventry facilities since 1964, and the company has now decided to do something with them.
These six reproductions of the original, race-bred Lightweight E-Type will be hand-built in-house by Jaguar’s craftsmen. Each car will be constructed to the exact specifications of their original 1960s forebears – including the 3.8-liter straight-six engine.
Jaguar expects a high demand for the six Lightweight E-Types, the first of which will make its public debut later this summer. Established Jaguar collectors, especially those with historic race car interests, will be prioritized amongst those potential customers who express interest.
Get your checkbooks out.
