Yahoo Autos Jaguar Classic Reveals the E-Type 60
Jaguar's been trapped for so long between its past and future that even Dante would sympathize. And recent events again illustrate the company's long, wandering drive around limbo: Call it coincidence or kismet that the diamond anniversary of Jaguar's last greatest hit, the XK-E—otherwise known as the E-Type—has arrived just a month after Jaguar's latest, greatest restructuring.
On the high note, the Coventry cat hosted an online event last week to reveal its E-Type 60 Collection models. The collection is six pairs of E-Types—one coupe, one convertible per pair—that celebrate and resurrect the sparkling ghosts of the two E-Types that debuted at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show.
As for that restructuring, last month, new Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bolloré announced his Reimagine plan for the U.K.'s largest automaker. He spoke of plans to turn Jaguar into an all-electric brand by 2025, one that could "realize its unique potential." Behind that was the unspoken declaration that Jaguar's last decade of course setting and course corrections hasn't worked. Bolloré proved his certainty in the assertion by canceling the next-generation all-electric XJ, a luxury sedan far enough along for the company to have released teaser photos. One might have expected an EV XJ to serve as pilot vehicle to what the automaker described as a "renaissance … as a pure electric luxury brand" that would showcase "pioneering next-generation technologies." Instead, it's more than a billion dollars in development resources roasted in purgatory.
So where do the past and the future meet? Yet again, in the E-Type, Jaguar's best and favorite touchstone for starting over. For the E-Type 60 Collection, Jaguar Classic will source six coupes and six convertibles among the 1960s-era Series 1 models with the 3.8-liter straight-six. The coupes pay homage to the one that Jaguar PR man Bob Berry ran from Coventry to Geneva in 1961 for the Geneva show after company owner Sir William Lyons ordered him, "Get here as fast as you can." Berry hoofed it flat out in the Opalescent Gunmetal Grey hardtop, license plate 9600HP, arriving with just minutes of cushion before the start of test drives for journalists. "I thought you'd never get here," Lyons said.
After the hardtop dropped jaws on that first day for its looks and performance, Lyons sent a message back to Coventry HQ for company test and development engineer Norman Dewis: "Drop everything and bring the open E-Type over." The convertibles in the E-Type 60 Collection will glorify the one Dewis drove in Berry's tracks, a British Racing Green model with license plate 77 RW.
Each of the six buyers gets one coupe and one convertible. Unusual for this type of limited run, Jaguar won't allow changes to color and trim. The hardtops come in Flat Out Grey paint with Smooth Black leather inside; the roadsters are dressed in Drop Everything Green with Suede Green interiors. Jaguar pledges the two unique exterior hues won't be used again.
Flourishes in the cockpits include a clock face in the tachometer and a 24-carat gold horn button, as well as a Jaguar Classic infotainment system with Bluetooth and navigation. Metal plaques cover the center consoles, each hand-engraved by artist Johnny Dowell with the routes that Berry and Dewis traversed to Geneva. Elsewhere, buyers will find commemorative badges sprinkled throughout, plus a tailored car cover, tool roll, and jack storage bag.
