Identification
Body styles and specials
The shells and the special cars, each with its own specification, production figures and sources, together with the two cars that do not fit the series pattern. Search matches titles, specifications and production runs.
The three official series and the 1968 interim cars are covered series by series at Series 1, Series 1.5, Series 2 and Series 3. This section is about the shells rather than the series.
8 variants listed
Body styles
Variations of shell rather than of series.
- The 2+21966 to 1974A body style rather than a series. The coupe stretched on a longer wheelbase with a raised roofline, a longer door, occasional rear seats and, for the first time, automatic transmission.Open question recorded
- The Open Two Seater1961 to 1974The roadster, and the only body style Jaguar built across all three series. Same centre structure as the coupe, without the roof, the rear quarters or the hatch aperture.Open question recorded
- The Fixed Head Coupe1961 to 1970The closed two seater, built through Series 1 and Series 2 and dropped entirely for the Series 3. Not to be confused with the 2+2, which is a different car on a longer floorpan.Open question recorded
Terms the factory never used
Labels the trade applies that Jaguar did not.
- Flat floor and early cars1961 to 1962The three features that define a first year car. They are usually described as one group ending at one point. They are three separate changes ending at three different points, and the chassis numbers prove it.Open question recorded
- Series 2.5A term, not a periodA label with no factory basis and no agreed meaning, generally applied to late Series 2 cars carrying detail changes that anticipated the Series 3. Recorded here, not adopted.Open question recorded
Competition cars
Cars built to race rather than to sell.
- The Lightweight1963 to 1964, with 2014 continuationsThe competition car. An aluminium monocoque and hardtop, an aluminium block wide angle head engine and dry sump lubrication. Twelve were completed in period, and six continuation cars followed in 2014.Open question recorded
- The Low Drag Coupe1962One car, chassis EC1001, with a reprofiled roof and fastback tail, built before the factory effort moved to the aluminium Lightweights. Widely recreated, and widely confused with the recreations.Open question recorded
Prototypes and cars that barely existed
Development cars, and models that were catalogued but scarcely built.
Common questions
How many series of E-Type were there?
Three official series: Series 1 from 1961, Series 2 from 1968 and Series 3 from 1971. Series 1.5 and Series 2.5 are enthusiast terms, not factory designations. Jaguar's own records treat the 1968 model year interim cars as late Series 1 production.
Is Series 2.5 a real E-Type variant?
No. Unlike Series 1.5, which is in settled enthusiast use for the 1968 model year interim cars, Series 2.5 has no factory basis and no consistent meaning. Where it is used it usually describes late Series 2 cars, and the archive records the term without adopting it.
When did the E-Type get the V12?
With Series 3, built from late 1970 and announced in 1971. The 5.3-litre V12 came only on the longer wheelbase, in open two seater and 2+2 coupe form, and the short-wheelbase fixed head coupe was not carried over. Every V12 E-Type is a Series 3 car, and no six-cylinder Series 3 was offered.
What body styles were offered?
The open two seater, often called the roadster, and the fixed head coupe were offered from 1961. The 2+2 fixed head coupe, on a longer wheelbase with a raised roofline and small rear seats, arrived in 1966. The Series 3 was built as a roadster and a 2+2 coupe only, both on the longer floorpan.
What was the Lightweight E-Type?
A small competition series built in 1963 and 1964 with an aluminium monocoque and hardtop, an aluminium block wide angle head engine and dry sump lubrication. Twelve were completed at the time, and Jaguar built a further six continuation cars in 2014 against unused chassis numbers from the original allocation.