Jaguar Celebrates 60th Birthday of the Iconic E-Type With Two Commemorative Models - Barron's

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The Jaguar F-Type Heritage 60 coupe looks splendid in vintage color Sherwood Green.

Jaguar photo

Perhaps more than some other European automakers, Jaguar assumes its clients are aware of the company’s colorful history. This is, after all, the company that, in the 1950s and ’60s, built the XK120, the Mark II (a performance sedan when the category barely existed), the majestic Mark IX luxury car and, of course, the iconic E-Type sports car. 

According to Jeffrey Jablansky, a senior specialist, “Jaguar certainly trades on its history, which informs the models we create. And the F-Type couldn’t exist without the E-Type.”

It’s for that reason that Jaguar is debuting the 2021 F-Type Heritage 60, whose name refers to the 60 years since March 1961, when the company showed the first E-Type at the Geneva Motor Show. The svelte sports car, born of Jaguar’s racing heritage, was a sensation there, and became an icon of the Swingin’ ’60s. Jablansky said that would-be owners of the Heritage 60, on sale in March, are likely to be people who know about Jaguar’s extensive racing history, and have a “special affinity” for the E-Type. 

Customers can also order their Heritage 60 as a convertible.

Jaguar photo

The Heritage 60 will be built globally in a diamond anniversary edition of 60 and available either as a two-seat coupe or convertible. There will be just one trim level and one color, Sherwood Green, which has been off the option list for decades (but was offered on the E-Type). The cars will be hand-finished by Jaguar’s SV Bespoke division at Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations (JSVO) in Warwickshire, England. “Like so many SV cars, they will be built to order,” Jablansky says. 

There’s no quota for individual markets, though Jablansky thinks the U.S. will be in the lead. Only China, which doesn’t import V8 F-Types, is off the list for this car. A price is imminent, though since it’s basically a trim upgrade it shouldn’t be too big a premium over a standard F-Type. The R model on which the new edition is based starts at US$101,800.

The interior features special lightweight performance seats with E-Type 60th birthday logos embossed on the headrests and, of course, a plaque.

Jaguar photo

The Heritage celebrates the stylist’s art. Unique to the model are historically inspired gloss black and chrome accents, with black brake calipers and special gloss black 20-inch forged alloy wheels. Interior features include caraway and ebony Windsor leather, an E-Type-inspired aluminum console finisher, special lightweight performance seats with E-Type 60th birthday logos embossed on the headrests, and an SV Bespoke plaque. There has to be a plaque. Jaguar said the cars will be “highly collectible,” though of course it’s the market that actually decides that. 

Clare Hansen, director of vehicle personalization at JSVO, said in a statement that the SV Bespoke team had “unrivaled access to original drawings, paint codes, and reference materials [for the E-Type].”

9600 HP gets the press excited at the Parc des Eaux Vives in Geneva, circa 1961.

Jaguar photo

These will be loaded cars, with all-wheel drive and the R’s 575-horsepower supercharged V8. The Heritage 60 is not the only model celebrating that iconic moment in 1961. Jaguar is also restoring six matched pairs of 3.8-liter E-Types to commemorate the hand-built prototype show cars, licensed as 9600 HP (a coupe) and 77 RW (a convertible). Paint, trim, and detailing will match the very early and unique specifications on the cars as debuted in Switzerland, and “60th anniversary commemorative design details” are part of the mix. 

The 9600 HP was famously driven from Coventry to Geneva’s Parc des Eaux Vives at top speed so it wouldn’t be late for the unveiling, and arrived with just 20 minutes before Sir William Lyons (Jaguar’s founder) was due to unveil the car. The book The Most Famous Car in the World tells the full story, and is by Phillip Porter, 9600 HP’s owner. 

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Jaguar Celebrates 60th Birthday of the Iconic E-Type With Two Commemorative Models - Barron's
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