A chronological timeline of the E-Type

This page is the long view in date order. For the launch itself and the reception the car received, The Car goes into more detail, and the identification pages deal with what changed year by year. The timeline below draws on the standard marque histories, the factory competition record as reported by Motor Sport and racing-results sources, and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust research guides. Dates in the early years are sometimes approximate because the paperwork was sparse.

1957: E1A

Jaguar built the first E-Type prototype, E1A, in 1957. It was smaller than the production car, with an aluminium body and a 2.4-litre engine, and its purpose was to test the monocoque centre section and the new independent rear suspension that would become the production car's defining layout. The body shape was not the final one, but the structural concept was.

1960: E2A at Le Mans

E2A was a larger, more powerful competition prototype built to keep Jaguar's toe in sports-car racing after the withdrawal of the works team. It carried a 3-litre version of the XK engine, looked far closer to the production E-Type than E1A had, and ran at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the colours of the American entrant Briggs Cunningham. It retired, but it proved the mechanical package and the aerodynamic direction.

1961: Geneva and the first cars

The E-Type was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1961, with the press reveal usually dated to 15 March. Two cars carry the story. The fixed-head coupe registered 9600 HP was the show car. The open two-seater registered 77 RW was driven overnight from Coventry to Geneva when demand at the show outran the single car present, a drive associated with Jaguar's test driver Norman Dewis.

The detail of that night has been told many times and improved in the telling. The drive happened. The precise timings, the exact instruction and who said what to whom are less secure than the retellings suggest, and this archive leaves them as reported rather than as established.

Production began with the 3.8-litre roadster and fixed-head coupe. The earliest cars had flat floors, external bonnet locks and covered headlights. See Series 1 for how those details changed.

1962: racing begins in earnest

Privateers raced production E-Types almost immediately, and 1962 saw entries at Le Mans. The Maurice Charles-entered car driven by John Coundley and Roy Salvadori is recorded as a retirement. The competition results for this first season are mixed: the E-Type was fast, but the outright honours went to more specialised machinery.

1963: the Lightweight programme

Jaguar responded to the racing interest with the Lightweight E-Type of 1963 and 1964. It used an aluminium monocoque in place of steel, an aluminium-block version of the XK engine, and a roadster body usually run with a hardtop. Jaguar planned eighteen and built twelve in period.

At Le Mans in 1963 the Briggs Cunningham-entered Lightweight, driven by Cunningham and Bob Grossman, finished ninth overall and fifth in class. That remains the best Le Mans result for an E-Type in period. The car proved competitive in national and international GT racing, but by then the mid-engined cars were beginning to move sports-car racing on.

1964: the 4.2-litre engine, and a low-drag experiment

The 4.2-litre engine arrived during 1964, bringing more torque, an all-synchromesh gearbox, better seats and an improved braking system. It is covered in detail on the Series 1 and XK engine pages.

In the competition shop, the factory also built a single low-drag coupe body on a Lightweight chassis, intended to test a more aerodynamic shape. The car was later supplied to the German Jaguar dealer Peter Lindner and co-driven with Peter Nöcker. It was crashed during the 1000 km de Paris in October 1964, in which Lindner was killed, and was eventually reconstructed. The exact sequence of the original build, the crash and the later restoration is contested in detail; anyone researching that chassis should consult the marque registers rather than this summary.

1965: racing fades from the factory

The works-supported racing effort wound down. The Lightweight cars continued to be campaigned by private owners, and the E-Type remained a force in club and national GT racing, but Jaguar no longer treated competition as a priority. The road car, meanwhile, was selling strongly on both sides of the Atlantic.

1966: the 2+2

Jaguar added a 2+2 coupe for buyers who wanted more interior space. It rode a longer wheelbase, carried a higher roofline and introduced the option of an automatic gearbox. Purists often prefer the two-seater proportions, but the 2+2 became a significant part of production and kept the model relevant as tastes changed.

1967 and 1968: safety, emissions and the Series 1.5

American regulations forced a series of running changes: open headlights in place of covered ones, rocker switches in place of toggles, and carburettor changes for some markets. The cars built in late 1967 and early 1968 with these features are now commonly called Series 1.5. They sit between the classic Series 1 and the more heavily altered Series 2. See Series 1.5 for the full list of changes.

1968: Series 2

Series 2 formalised the safety-led changes and added a larger front intake, wrap-around bumpers, relocated lights and further interior alterations. The character of the car remained recognisably E-Type, but the cleaner early look was gone. See Series 2 for the differences.

1971: Series 3 and the V12

The Series 3 of 1971 introduced Jaguar's 5.3-litre V12, a longer wheelbase shared by both bodies, and a shift from sports car to fast tourer. The roadster was now only available as a V12, while the coupe and 2+2 carried the same engine. The six-cylinder cars were no longer in production.

1974: production ends

The last E-Types were built in 1974, although some were registered in 1975. Final-year figures therefore vary depending on whether a source counts build date or registration date. The model had run for thirteen years, outlasted the six-cylinder engine, and had become one of the most recognisable shapes in motoring.

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