1970 Jaguar E-Type Series 2 2+2

Details

The Swallow Sidecar Company was founded in 1922 by William Lyons and William Walmsley. In 1934 Lyons formed SS Cars Limited to effectively take over the operation from Walmsley. The SS brand was quite successful, though their cars had a reputation for having ‘more show than go’. The Jaguar name first appeared as a model name on an SS 2½ Litre Sports Saloon introduced in 1936. For political reasons, Lyons changed the name of his company to Jaguar Cars in 1945.

The SS100 built between 1936 and 1941 is today regarded as one of the great pre-war sports cars, however, it was the launch of the legendary Jaguar XK120 at the London Motor Show in 1948 that really put Jaguar on the map. The car caused a sensation, which persuaded Jaguar founder and design boss William Lyons to put it into production. The XK120 morphed into the XK140 and ultimately the XK150 and in total, just over 30,000 cars were built over 15 years of production.

In 1961, at the Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar introduced the E-Type, which like the XK120 all those years ago, took the motoring world by storm. The body styling was simply gorgeous and technologically the E-Type was an engineering masterpiece and it set new standards in all areas.

Whilst automotive styling is somewhat subjective, the E-Type is often ranked atop lists of ‘the most beautiful cars’ and in fact it has been described by Enzo Ferrari as ‘the most beautiful car ever made’. And it’s not just about the looks as the E-Type is often at the top of other lists such as ‘the best sports car ever built’ or ‘the most significant cars’. It is truly a motoring icon.

As a testament to the success of the E-Type, production evolved through three series from 1961 until 1974 during which time circa 70,000 cars were built.

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale an Australian delivered, factory right hand drive 1970 Jaguar E-Type Series 2 2+2 automatic.

The heritage certificate on file confirms this is a matching numbers car which was manufactured on 22^nd May 1970 and dispatched on 16^th June 1970 to British Leyland, Australia. It also confirms that the car was delivered in signal red with a beige interior.

Not much is known about the subsequent early history of the car. It was understood to have been sold new into NSW. The previous owner, a Mr Berry from Liverpool south west of Sydney, acquired the car in circa 1980 from Chequered Flag/Sports Car World on Parramatta Rd in Sydney. The car was then blue and its previous owner was understood to be a lady who had purchased it after she’d won the Lotto! Berry owned the car for approximately 25 years. In 1998 he took the car back to bare metal and had it repainted in its original colour, red. At that time, he also retrimmed the car and had all the chrome redone. There are a few photos on file showing the car stripped down and one photo after it had been repainted.  In 2000 the cylinder head was reconditioned and new valves were installed.

The current owner purchased the car at the end of 2004 from Jaguar specialist Ian Cummins in Sydney, who had the car on consignment. At that time the odometer read 83,439 miles.

The car had a few mechanical issues which were all rectified by Cummins before the car was delivered to its new owner. When the car was delivered to him in Brisbane in February 2005 it was registered as 395 JAD. The registration was then immediately changed to JAG 422, which is the registration that remains on the car today.

The current owner has used this Jaguar as it was intended to be used and that is to be regularly driven! This Jaguar E-Type has been his one and only car and daily driver for the past 17 years. That said, it probably only gets driven two or three times a week and it has travelled just under 23,000 miles in this time.

During his ownership the car has always been looked after by Brisbane based Jaguar specialists including Jag World, DM Car Repairs, RC Grieve and more recently Classic and Prestige. Being his daily driver, it meant this car needed to be reliable and therefore it was serviced on a regular basis. If any work needed to be done to the car, it was done. Some of the maintenance completed in the current owner’s time with the car include:

• In 2007 the transmission was removed from the car and overhauled and a reconditioned torque converter was fitted. At the same time the timing chains and tensioners, the welch plugs, the main big end bearings and the crankshaft rear main seal were replaced.
• In July 2008 the suspension was overhauled. At that time the mileage was noted as 89,062 miles.
• In February 2011 new front brake discs were installed and all the instruments were reconditioned. The odometer read 93,763 miles
• In 2015 the air conditioning system was overhauled which included the installation of a new compressor.
• Between 2018 and 2019 the steering rack was completely overhauled.
• In September 2021 the carburettors were rebuilt.

First impressions of this car are really positive. It just has a really good feel about it. The paintwork is generally in good condition, the chrome and external trim is clean, the panel gaps are also very good for an E-Type . . . you open the door and the interior presents well with just the right amount of patina.

Walking around the car you will notice a few small paint defects, most noticeable are a few paint cracks on the boot lid, the roof and the right rear guard. For a 20+ year old paint job on a car that is regularly driven the paintwork is actually very good! It still has a nice gloss and a strong depth of colour. All the chrome work, external trim and glass present itself in a similar way. Slide behind the wheel and you immediately feel right at home. The seats are firm and comfortable, the dash looks good and all the instruments are clean and appear to be in good working order. A welcome addition is the air conditioning installed in this car, which works exceptionally well, that will keep you cool during the hot Australian summer.

The engine bay is clean and well presented. The boot area has been used and there are some light scuff marks/scratches on some of the trim.

The car requires full choke to start from cold but it starts easily and almost immediately settles into a smooth idle. You often hear negative comments about automatic E-Types, but this is a good one! Out on the road this car drives beautifully. The car feels tight on the road and there are no rattles or squeaks. The automatic gearbox works well and the gear changes are smooth up and down. The engine feels strong and it pulls well through the rev range.  You can tell this car has been looked after . . . it drives really well! We did notice a slight knock under braking which could be some wear in the wheel splines.

Accompanying the car is a good history file with service records going back to 2005, a Heritage Certificate, an owner’s manual, spare wheel and a jack.

Today the odometer reads 106,287 miles and the fact that the car has been used on a regular basis is a real positive. As a result, we are able to offer a well sorted Jaguar E-Type that is ready for its next owner to use and enjoy.

We think this car is a fabulous entry level Jaguar E-Type and quite frankly a lot of car for the money!

Highlights:

• Australian delivered, factory right hand drive example.
• Matching numbers
• Long term ownership, with only 2 owners from c1980.
• Well maintained and a very usable classic car
• Good history file with service records going back to 2005.
• A/C that blows ice cold.