Sixty years ago this week (the date varies) the world was introduced to Jaguar’s new E-type. Ever since its illustrious debut the classic car has been the object of unending admiration and reverence. The E-type has been a part of many people’s lives, from driving them as their everyday cars to restoring and modifying them. Read more https://ecdautodesign.com/model/jaguar-etype/

When the first Series 1 E-Type rolled out of the factory it was an instant hit. Even though the design was beginning to show its age by the late ’60s it was still in demand. It was coveted by pop stars, royalty and racing drivers alike.

Time Traveling with the E-Type Jaguar: An Automotive Adventure

At the time Jaguar was heavily involved in motorsport. They had successful XK120 models on the road and legendary C and D-type purpose-built racecars that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in a row. William Lyons wanted to build a racecar replacement for the aging XK range but he didn’t have the money to completely revise the existing XK140 shape.

Instead he chose to tweak it a bit and the result was the E-type.

850001, which is known as the Cotswold Blue prototype, shows Heynes, Sayer and Knight’s thinking for what the new car might look like. The front end was more like the final E-type design while the rear kept a family resemblance to the D-type.

Using state-of-the-art scanning technology, the inner and outer surfaces of each Lightweight bodyshell were digitally mapped. This data recorded dimensions and shape down to a fraction of a millimeter. This was used to create a highly accurate 3D model that was then assessed by Jaguar’s engineering team.