E-Type
It is impossible to overstate the impact the E-Type had when it was unveiled in 1961. Here was a car that encapsulated the spirit of the revolutionary era it came to symbolise. The E-Type is a design that even today continues to inform the work we do in styling the Jaguars of the future.” Ian Callum, Design Director, Jaguar.
• The E-type remained in production for 14 years, selling more than 70,000 units, making it Europe’s first mass-produced sports car.
Malcolm Sayer Malcolm Sayer (1916-1970) studied at Lougborough University’s Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering in the late 1930s. He joined Jaguar in the 1950s and was the designer of the C, D and E-type Jaguar, the XJ13 and the XJS. He was thought to be one of the first designers to apply the principles of aerodynamics to cars with scientific calculations, using a slide rule and seven-figure log tables to work out formulae he invented for drawing curves. He died in 1970, aged 54.
Jaguar will be celebrating this anniversary year at motoring events throughout 2011. The company is marking the anniversary at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show this month (March) and will attend Goodwood’s Revival and Festival of Speed, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Nurburgring Old Timer Grand Prix and many others.
More information available from
www.jaguar.com
Images below copyright, © JDHT Malcolm Sayer
a fraction of the price of rivals with similar performance, it was the affordable supercar and became an instant icon
Urban legend • The E-Type was presented to the world’s press at the restaurant du Parc des Eaux Vives in Geneva. Such was the media excitement and clamour for demonstration runs up a nearby hillclimb that Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons instructed chief test driver Norman Dewis to drive through the night from Coventry to bring another model to Switzerland.
• Even Enzo Ferrari admitted it was “the most beautiful car in the world.”
• The E-type’s straight-six engine had powered
Jaguar to five Le Mans victories in the 1950s and by 1961 in 3.8-litre form produced 265bhp and 260lb ft of torque, making the car a genuine 150mph proposition and, like its XK120 predecessor, the fastest production car in the world.
• At launch the E-Type cost £2,256 &15 shillings, including purchase tax and the all-important optional wire wheels, the equivalent today of around £38,000.
• The E-Type’s perfectly proportioned bodywork was the work of Malcolm Sayer, an aeronautical engineer by training who also applied his aerodynamic expertise in shaping the earlier Le Mans-winning C and D-Type racers.
15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36