Geneva, March 16 1961... the star of the Auto show is unveiled to the world and the world of sports car will be marked forever...

Its name is the Jaguar E-type, or XKE as it will be better known in in the United State, and it is not only stunning but it also sets new standards in term of performance and price. The early 60s were a time where most cars had drum brakes, live rear axle, styling still drawing heavily on the 50s, body on frame construction and performance that was often not so sporty.

In contrast Jaguar brought to Geneva a 150 mph race bred monocoque sports car with independent rear suspension, disc brakes and styling that would become an icon of the 60s. In pure Jaguar tradition the price was as spectacular as the performance, £2,097 for the OTS which was almost half what its nearest competitor the Aston Martin DB4 sold for ( £3968 ). Yes, it is probable that if James Bond had been paying for his cars himself rather than the British government he would have indeed been driving an E-type... Seriously, on the all important US market, the XKE would be significantly cheaper that the Corvette by almost 30 %.

The way the E-type was launched at Geneva is unique and dramatic in many ways. First, inside the show itself, a fixed head coupe was revealed to the press and VIP by lifting out a huge box which was covering the car, officially revealing to the word the most advanced sports car ever built.

Then there is the second car, the press demonstrator, which was driven … yes driven… from Coventry to Geneva and arrived just in time to be quickly cleaned and presented to the press at a park. What a leap of faith to send an all new car on a 600 miles journey with only hours to spare…

Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons was on hand to personally demonstrate the car; incidentally he was known to prefer the styling of coupe to the convertible which may explain why both Geneva show cars were coupes.

Development of the E-type had started in the late fifties as a replacement to the successful XK 120 - 150 series and drew heavily on Jaguar's Le Mans winning D-type monocoque and front sub frame construction. Mechanically, the E-type used the same 3.8 liter XK inline 6 cylinder engine with triple carburetors used on the XK150S developing 265 hp. One of the new features was the development of an all new independent rear suspension, self contained in a sub frame, and featuring 4 shocks and springs with inboard disc brakes, mounted near the differential therefore reducing unsprung weight. This independent rear suspension system gave Jaguar an edge in term of handling, comfort, grip and noise. The basic design remained in used not only during the entire E-type production but would also be on saloons like the XJ6 all the way until 1988. The front and rear Dunlop disc brakes were activated by twin master cylinders providing ample braking power by 1961 standards and reliability. The rack and pinion steering helped give the E-type its agile reputation with a short turning radius and light efforts. Another innovation was a separate header tank and the electrical cooling fan system, which would need improvement in the following years.

The elegant body shape, also designed by aerodynamicist Malcom Sawyer, was a key element in achieving the magic 150 mph top speed. And 150 mph is something the E-type was capable of, as tested by the British motor press even thought the car used was slightly optimized to reach the magic number with little details such as the front bumper overriders removed to reduce aerodynamic drag. Acceleration was impressive as well with Autocar magazine report 0 to 60 mph times of just under 7".

13 years before, in 1948, Jaguar had stunned the world by producing a 120 mph car, the XK120, something unheard of at the time. Original reaction to the car was such that Jaguar was not ready to mass produce it and it would take 2 years to finally create the tooling needed to produce the steel body instead of the hand made aluminum panel used on the early car. History would nearly repeat itself with the E-type which was also expected by Sir Lyons and his team to be a limited production car, that is of course until the world discovered it in Geneva.

Originally, the company producing the panels, Abbey Panels, was using concrete tooling rather that steel to produce the panels and deliveries were slow until the proper steel tooling could be made, with only 2160 cars produced in the first year. Things were aggravated early on the production runs as a labor dispute and a strike at on of the plants.

Two weeks later, the American public discovered the E-type at the New York Auto Show on April 1st and reception was equally enthusiastic, the Jaguar display being swamped with visitors. Magazines such as Road and Track or Car And Driver tested the E-type and praised the car for its styling and performance even though they pointed out a few shortfalls such as lack of interior space and the original gearbox with non synchro first gear. The US market will become very important for the E-type, and Jaguar, with over 3/4 of the 72 000 E-type built over the 13 years period coming to the US.

Over the next three years, the E-type would remain unchanged until demand for a more powerful engine in the saloons prompter Jaguar to increase the XK engine displacement from 3.8 to 4.2 liters in 1964. Horsepower remained the same but reached at lower RPM and torque was increased by about 10 hp. The 4.2 liter E-Type also received a much needed new all synchromesh 4 speed gear box, new reclining seats and an alternator.

1966 would see the launch of the first 2+2 model, featuring a longer wheelbase ( by 9" ) and a revised roofline, which many view as less elegant as the original coupe. The addition of the small rear seats meant the car was more practical and could even pass for a family car... sort of... as long as the children are small and understanding... Also, the longer wheelbase allowed Jaguar to offer an optional 3 speed Borg Warner Automatic gearbox..

In late 1967, the E-type would undergo various changes mostly prompted by increased regulations in the US, the car's largest market. Among these, the most easily noticeable were the replacement of the covered headlights with open headlights to improve their effectiveness. Turn signals would move under the bumpers, the toggle switches and aluminum center panel were replaced with rocker switches and a vinyl panel, the knock offs on the wheels would loose their ears requiring the use of an adapter to change a wheel.

By 1969, with the installation of various emission control devices the E-type had become the Series 2 which, when equipped with the dual carburetor US spec engine, was starting to become low on power with a net rating of only 175 hp… This explains why triple carburetors conversion and elimination of some of the emission control system are sought after by series 2 owners.

In parallel to the E-type struggling to meet tougher emission standards and loosing performance in the process, Jaguar engineers had been working on a V12 engine intended as an optional power plant for the new XJ6 saloon. Once again, history repeated itself with Jaguar launching a new engine designed for a saloon in a sports car, just like they had done with the XK engine in 1948 and incidentally as they will do again with the AJ6 engine in the mid eighties and even the V8 in 1996.

Because 2001 also marks the 30th anniversary of the V12, we’ll cover it in details in an upcoming article in The Road to Franklin series but we can just say that the 5.3 liter V12 aluminum engine will be used in various models for 25 years including powering the Le Mans winner in the late eighties.

The V12 E-type turned out to be a comfortable, high performance and very smooth car which restored all of the performance lost with the years. Top speed was once again very close to 150 mph and 0 to 60 acceleration was back down to just under 7 seconds. Very little was changed to the interior but what was changed was not for the best… the stylish wooden rim steering wheel was replaced by a leather version and the central leather covered console and tunnel cover replaced with molded plastic...

In addition to the V12 engine, the E-type suspension was redesigned with a wider track, wider tires and flared arches to accommodate the changes. The 2 seater coupe was dropped in favor of the 2+2 and the convertible was now built on the same longer wheelbase. Unfortunately to some, the E-type lost some of its sports car character and evolved in a grand tourer.

After 13 years in production, and now facing not only competition from more modern cars but the oil crunch of 1973, the last E-type rolled off the assembly line in 1974. The last 50 E-types were all roadsters, painted black and featured a commemorative dash plaque.

Over 72 000 E-types had been produced and Jaguar had permanently left its mark on automotive history for the E-type is one of most recognized car ever manufactured.

2001 is the 40th anniversary of a legend and many events are planned through out the world. In England, the Jaguar Enthusiast Club is hoping to gather no less than 1000 E-types for a weekend celebration event at Donnington Race Park.

At first glance, such a high goal seems unreachable in the US; England is the home country of Jaguar and only a short crossing away from mainland Europe where many enthusiastic E-type owners can be found, but let’s not forget that North America was the E-type largest market.

Travel distances are much larger on this side of the Atlantic, but gas is cheap (at least compared to Europe…) and the July dates should make it easier for people to attend.

Franklin TN is within 1 day of driving from anywhere on the East Coast and the Midwest, there is no excuse for North American E-type owners not to show up in large numbers…