JAGUAR E-Type Roadster 1961 | Famous First Owner NAT KING COLE & NATALIE COLE
Description
1961 Jaguar E-Type Series I, Chassis Number 875404, Mint Condition, Jaguar Heritage Certificate.The car was bought at Jaguar Cars New York in 1961 for the famous Nat King Cole by his wife Maria. Apart from the Jaguar Heritage Certificate, there is a number of documents describing the ownership of the car by Nat King Cole.
The Jaguar E-Type was first revealed on 15 March 1961 in Geneva to huge excitement from the world's press. Sir William Lyons, the founder of Jaguar, realised that he had something very special on his hands and had a second car delivered overnight from Coventry to Switzerland in order to accommodate more test runs at the show.
The E-Type was a revolutionary car in many ways but it was Malcolm Sayer's beautiful bodywork that set it apart from anything else on the road. With its faired-in headlamps, a long, sculpted nose and centred twin exhaust, there was nothing else like it and the car remains a unique proposition today. The E-Type is still considered by many to be one of the greatest car designs ever, with Enzo Ferrari famously describing it as "the most beautiful car in the world."
It featured a monocoque construction, independent rear suspension and all-round disc brakes: all very advanced for the 1960s.
The Jaguar E-Type's 3.8-litre straight-six engine took part in five Le Mans victories for Jaguar in the 1950s (in the Jaguar C-Type and D-Type racers), and with 265bhp, it's no slouch even by today's standards. It was claimed that the car could reach 150mph, so for a time it was the fastest production car in the world.
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