FINAL PERFORMANCE
Although there’s no such thing as a ‘cheap’ E-Type, it’s certainly the case that a Series 3 offers the best value of them all. With an early flat-floor Series 1 setting you back anything up to a cool quarter of a million pounds in exceptional condition, the final V12-engined version from the early 1970s is relatively affordable by comparison. It might not be everyone’s idea of the ideal E-Type, thanks to it evolving into more of a grand tourer than the raw and raucous sportster it started out as; but the Series 3 does have plenty to offer, and might just be where the clever money is right now.
Launched in 1971, a decade after the E-Type first took a bow at the Geneva motor show, the Series 3 brought with it major changes. It had flared wheelarches, a wider track and an additional two and a half inches in width across its bodywork. The E-Type had grown up – in every sense. The front suspension, for example, featured anti-dive geometry to help keep the front end level under harsh braking; the brakes themselves were uprated via a bigger servo and an
