We get excited when we find old keepsakes that were stored away and forgotten. A vintage folding knife, a baseball cap owned by our dad, you get the idea. But a "bush find" (barn find left outside) in the form of a rare Jaguar E-Type is something altogether different. E-Type UK recently fully restored a 1964 Jaguar E-Type after it was left out in the owner's garden for three decades. It hurts us to see the photos (below) because the E-Type was once called "the most beautiful car ever made" by none other than Enzo Ferrari.
And this isn't just an E-Type. It was the 10th 1 E-Type 4.2 to leave the factory floor at Jaguar's Coventry Plant, but it was also a rare Fixed Head Coupe (a mere 5,830 were ever made). The owner drove it for about 25 years but then stopped driving it due to an illness. It was parked in the garden at the owner's home in Gloucestershire, UK and left to rot. The body took such punishment from being exposed to the elements for so long, it could not be saved.
The car was discovered and then sent to Jaguar specialist E-Type UK for evaluation. It was determined that most of the car was no longer salvageable, but some of the suspension, steering, powertrain, and chassis could be brought back to life. The body of the E-Type and had to be completely replaced.
E-Type UK was able to find period-correct parts, but of course, none of the replacement parts would number match the original chassis, but at least they returned the car to its original look and feel. The body and much of the rest of the car was fabricated to original spec, a monumental achievement that shows the level of dedication by the shop.
If you look at the finished engine (above), you'll see the engine's cam covers and cylinder heads that were salvaged from the original engine. They were near-perfectly refinished and then attached to a new 4.2-liter inline-six engine. The new owner has valued the restored E-Type at approximately $125,000, a hefty sum for a car that was pretty much done for and left for dead. We're guessing the car would get more than this value at auction. We can't imagine how much work it took .
More than any Jaguar in existence, with perhaps the exception of the racing D-Type, the E-Type coupe is the most iconic Jaguar of all time, and perfectly restored models can command upwards of a quarter of a million dollars. We'd have to say some true car lover found this rare E-Type special enough to rescue it, and the result is simply stunning.
