Series 1
Series 1, 1961 to 1968
The car as it was first shown, and the seven years of quiet revision that followed. Covered headlights throughout, two engines, three body styles, and the changes that matter when you are standing in front of one.
Series 1 is the E-Type most people picture: faired-in headlights under glass covers, a small mouth at the front, slim bumpers and tail lights sitting above them. It is also the least uniform part of the model's life. A car built in 1961 and a car built in 1967 share a shape and very little else in detail, and the distance between them is where most buying mistakes are made.
The 3.8 cars, 1961 to 1964
The first cars carried the 3.8-litre XK engine with three SU carburettors, and the Moss gearbox, which has no synchromesh on first gear. Chassis numbering opens in March 1961 at 850001 for right-hand drive open two-seaters, 875001 for left-hand drive open two-seaters and 885001 for left-hand drive fixed-head coupes, with right-hand drive coupes starting at 860001 in July 1961. Each of those four runs ends in August 1964.
Two details separate the very earliest cars from the rest. The footwell floors were flat rather than recessed, which costs a tall driver legroom, and the bonnet was latched from outside the car rather than from within. The figure usually quoted is the first 500 or so cars for both. Treat that as a round working figure: it is repeated everywhere, the two changes did not necessarily land on the same chassis number, and it is not something a guide page can settle for an individual car.
A flat-floor outside-latch 3.8 is the most sought-after ordinary E-Type there is, which has consequences beyond price. Cars have been presented as earlier than they are, and parts have moved between shells. Documentation matters more here than anywhere else in the model's life.
The 4.2 cars, 1964 to 1968
The 4.2 engine appears in the Heritage Trust's chassis records from August 1964 for left-hand drive open two-seaters and both fixed-head coupes, and September 1964 for right-hand drive open two-seaters, under the 1E prefix. Enthusiast literature usually gives October 1964 for the public changeover, which sits alongside those dates rather than contradicting them.
Claimed output did not change with the capacity increase, which is why period road tests do not show the 4.2 as a faster car. What changed is everything around the engine. The all-synchromesh gearbox replaced the Moss box, the brake servo was improved, the electrical system was revised, and the seats were reshaped into something a driver can sit in for an afternoon. The engine itself is dealt with on the XK engine page.
For a driver rather than a collector, this is the point at which the E-Type became usable. The Moss box rewards a deliberate hand and punishes a hurried one, and a great many owners who intend to drive their car regularly end up preferring the later gearbox.
The 2+2
The 2+2 entered the 4.2 chassis sequence in September 1965 for right-hand drive cars and October 1965 for left-hand drive. It is a longer-wheelbase car with a raised roofline and a more steeply raked screen, and it was the only E-Type offered with automatic transmission. There was never a 3.8 2+2.
Opinion on the 2+2's looks has never settled, and that is reflected in what the cars are worth relative to the short-wheelbase coupe. The rear seats are for children or luggage. What the 2+2 offers is the same engineering with usable space behind the front seats, and it remains the cheapest way into a Series 1.
What the earliest cars are like to own
- Cooling. Series 1 cars run hot in traffic. The small front intake and the original fan arrangement were adequate for open roads and marginal in a queue. Later cars gained twin fans and Series 2 gained the enlarged intake.
- The Moss gearbox. Not a fault, a characteristic. First gear needs the car stationary or close to it, and a rushed change into second will baulk.
- Brakes. Discs all round from the start, inboard at the rear, which is excellent engineering and awkward to service. Rear brake work means going in from underneath.
- Structure. The monocoque tub and the front subframes decide whether a car is worth saving, which is the subject of the restoration page.
Numbers built
The two most-quoted published breakdowns disagree about how Series 1 divides internally, and agree closely on the total across the model's life. The per-body-style table gives 15,498 Series 1 3.8 cars and 16,195 Series 1 4.2 cars, with the interim cars listed separately. Graham Robson's figures divide the same period as 15,490 3.8s, 17,320 4.2s and 10,930 2+2s. The difference is a matter of where the 2+2 and the interim cars are counted, not a dispute about how many cars were made. Both sets, their sources and the reasons they diverge are set out on the production numbers page.
Common questions
What years is a Series 1 Jaguar E-Type?
Series 1 runs from the launch at Geneva in March 1961 to the end of the Series 1 4.2 chassis sequence in July 1968, according to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust research guide RG001F. The 1968 model year interim cars built from around August 1967, widely called Series 1.5, sit inside that same sequence rather than in a separate factory category.
What is the difference between a 3.8 and a 4.2 Series 1?
The 4.2 arrived during the second half of 1964 with a larger-capacity version of the XK engine, an all-synchromesh gearbox in place of the Moss box, a better brake servo, a revised electrical system and reshaped seats. Claimed power was unchanged, so the 4.2 is usually described as more tractable and easier to live with rather than faster.
Which Series 1 cars have flat floors and outside bonnet locks?
The earliest 3.8 cars. Both features are usually said to have run for roughly the first 500 cars, which is a round working figure repeated widely rather than a precisely documented change point, and the two changes did not necessarily fall at the same chassis number. A Heritage Certificate is the way to settle it for one particular car.
Did the Series 1 E-Type really do 150 mph?
The 150 mph figure comes from press road tests of two specific factory press cars in 1961, the fixed-head coupe registered 9600 HP and the roadster 77 RW. Those cars are widely accepted to have been prepared to a standard beyond an ordinary production example. The claim is defensible as a record of what those two cars did on those days, and it is not a specification to expect from a standard car.