ROLLING DOUBLE SIXES
JAGUAR E-TYPE V12 (1971-1975) (£50,000-£100,000)
Our most expensive option here is naturally one of the most appealing. In fixed head 2+2 form you’re looking at £50,000 and up, while a roadster can reach six figures. It’s not all that surprising. The E-Type is an icon, a beautiful sports car from a golden era of the British motor industry. Based on a racing car, the D-Type, the E-Type’s monocoque chassis was start of the art and, what’s more, covered in a bodyshell to die for. It was enough to be one of the greatest cars ever built.
Then, install arguably one of the greatest engines ever built and you have something perhaps even more special. There may well have been ten years’ worth of changes to the E-Type, many of which people will say upset the original car’s delicate balance, before the introduction of the V12 in 1971, but the resulting Series 3 E-Type is a difficult car to resist.
At the heart of the matter is an engine of motorsport pedigree as much as the chassis, though less proven. In its original form it was a quad-cam 5.0-litre monster intended to power an XJ13 Le Mans racer to victory, but this ultimately never saw action. It was, thankfully, reworked for us road users by dropping a cam on each bank and gaining some 300cc to make it more usable. It remained a potent bit of kit, and with 272bhp and 304lb.ft of torque it wasn’t far off the outright performance of a contemporary Ferrari 365 GTC/4. Then and
