Driving and touring

Ownership guides dwell on faults and bills because that is where the risk sits, but the reason to put up with all of it is the driving. The E-Type rewards smoothness, covers ground at a pace that still feels modern, and turns an ordinary journey into the point of the day. Regular use is also genuinely good for the car, which makes driving it the rare pleasure that doubles as maintenance.

What it is like

The driving position is low and the view out is over that bonnet, which takes a day to stop staring at and a lifetime to stop enjoying. The controls are period heavy by modern standards: an unassisted rack that weights up at parking speed, a firm brake pedal that stops the car well once you commit, and on early cars the deliberate Moss gearbox that punishes a rushed change and rewards a considered one. None of it is difficult. All of it asks you to drive the car rather than operate it.

On the open road the car settles into its intended life. The engine pulls from low revs, the gearing is long, and sustained cruising is where the design makes sense. Heavy traffic is the least happy environment, mostly for the cooling system's sake, which is worth remembering when planning a route through a city in summer.

Preparing for a tour

A long trip is a test taken in public, and preparation is the revision. The items that strand touring E-Types are consistent, and all of them are checkable at home:

• Cooling. System flushed and filled, hoses sound, fans confirmed working, cap holding pressure. Traffic at altitude or in heat finds any weakness.
• Fuel system. Hoses and seals of known age, because ethanol-blended fuel shortens the life of old rubber. Filters clean, pump behaving.
• Ignition and charging. A healthy battery, a charging system that keeps up with lights and fans, and ignition components without unknown mileage on them.
• Tyres and wheels. Correct pressures including the spare, and on wire-wheeled cars a spoke and spline check before departure.
• Fluids. Oil, coolant, brake and clutch fluid fresh and at level, with top-up supplies carried.

Shake the car down with a few longer local runs first. A fault that appears fifty miles from home is an anecdote; the same fault on a foreign motorway is a story of a different kind.

Fuel and the modern world

Modern unleaded petrol works, with attention to two points. Older cylinder heads without hardened valve seat inserts may benefit from a lead replacement additive, particularly on sustained fast running, though many owners find ordinary use causes no measurable seat recession. Ethanol in modern blends is the more practical concern, since it degrades period rubber in the fuel system and the blend varies by grade and country. Higher octane grades generally carry less ethanol. Fuel formulations change, so the current club guidance beats any fixed statement here.

Why use is maintenance

Cars that sit develop their own faults: seals dry, brakes seize, fuel goes stale, tyres age and condensation works on the steel from the inside. The pattern described on the common faults page, where deferred small jobs return as large ones, applies to disuse as much as to neglect. A car driven regularly, warmed through properly and put away dry stays healthier than a car polished and stored. The best thing you can do for an E-Type is the thing it was built for.

Common questions