THE THINKING MAN’S E-TYPE?
The E-Type is arguably the most widely recognised and desirable classic car in the world today. Good examples command profoundly serious money, particularly original or well-restored cars. But if you had been able to look around the Jaguar factory at the time the E-Type was being built, you would have also found a relatively unknown model with an almost identical specification. It is time to bring that car out of the shadows and to recognise it as the masterpiece that it is.
Whilst the sublime shape of the E-Type turns many heads, I must tell you that this other car is arguably as good looking, but I must also admit that it is a lot less familiar. It does not yet have the same cachet, but it more than makes up for that in specification, and as a bonus it has four-seater practicality. Best of all, this car, the 420, can be yours today at only a fraction of the price of an E-Type!
That does not mean it will be lacking in performance. The owner of the 420 in our pictures is Stephen George, who runs a small stable of classics at his south Bedfordshire home. Stephen caught the Jaguar bug incredibly early on. His father owned an E-Type when Stephen was learning to drive – that was five years before he was legally able to drive, but he was lucky enough to have use of the perimeter road on a private airfield. Of course, there was no speed limit and Stephen acknowledges that the combination
