DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

mariusboonzaier

The 1960s was arguably the definitive decade in British history: the Swinging Sixties. The Beatles released their debut album, Please Please Me and their subsequent “British Invasion” on the music industry. Fashion designer Mary Quant popularised the mini skirt and it was an era of political activism. However, before this decade of youth-driven cultural revolution came into, ahem, full swing, on the outskirts of London, the mechanical rustle of an atmospheric six-cylinder echoed through Jaguar’s Coventry factory on the evening of 14 March 1961. The British motor manufacturer’s then public relations manager Bob Berry started a hand-built E-Type fixed-head coupé prototype that Jaguar was set to display at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland the following day.

Leaving the production plant later than initially planned, Berry embarked on the 1 174 km journey from Browns Lane, driving the Opalescent