Story and History

1974 Jaguar E type V12 Roadster - 6.0 litre Engine + 5 Speed Gearbox

A cracking car in superlative condition throughout and one of the last 250 E Types made having been supplied to her first owner in November 1974

Coming with the original Warranty Pack supplied by British Leyland and unusually with a full compliment of servicing stamps, from the supplying dealer (Dave Heinz Imports, Florida), whilst in the care of the first owner until 1978 when at 33.000 miles - 12 stamps

Her second owner took delivery in 1983 and took her to 78.000 miles before she was snapped up by a keen Englishman who was after a suitably superior example, with no corrossion, for restoration to his personal specification in 1988 (hence the choice of a Floridian supplied vehicle)

He utilised JM Automotive of Coventry to strip her to a bare shell and rebuild her correctly, of which there is photographic evidence, and Tom Wilkinshaw Racing to rebuild the engine to 6.0 specification (they were at that time making the 6.0 engines for the XJS and had famously reworked the V12 engine for various Jaguar Racing Programmes, from the 1970's XJ12C's, through the TWR XJS and culminating in the first Jaguar victory at LeMans since the 1950's when they took First place in 1988 with their 7.0 V12 in the TWR XJR)

The restoration was obviously of the highest quality as she was entered into various events and there are 3 Brass Plaques to commemorate this within the history file

There is a very nice booklet written by the second owner here in the UK and this confirms that there were only 2 owners in the US and then 3 here in the UK - the chap who had her rebuilt, 1989 - 1997, the chap who produced the history booklet, 1997 - 2010, and the latest owner

We recently removed the interior in it's entirety to enable a full retrim to Ferrari standards, and it was clear that the works carried out were to the highest standard, and indeed the tub remains with full integrety and absolutely no rust visible whatsoever

We used special Bentley hides to retrim the interior and boot areas, to include door cards, rear shelf, centre console and central tunnel - normally finished in Ambla (plastic) on Jaguars. We chose a hide colour to match the Classic Leica Camera case. Whilst there we also took the time to Diamond Quilt the central tunnel, sills and storage deck behind the seats whilst also fitting a new 5 speed gearbox

We also fitted a Becker Cascade stereo (as fitted to modern Ferrari's too) with various speakers and tweaters to give a fantastic sound should, at any time, you get bored of playing tunes on the engine with the 5 speed gear box!!!

Recently fully serviced with the carburettors overhauled to ensure smooth, constant acceleration and with new springs, 'Gaz' shock absorbers and suspension bushes giving excellent handling to match the performance provided by the new gearbox and fully tuned engine she is ready for another seasons fun and games

So, in essence, we have a very special car for the enthusiast owner, driver rather than the Originality Officianado and offering excellent value, especially considering the cost to replicate