JaguarE-Type

Jaguar E-Type 9600 HP

The grey coupé that Jaguar's PR manager, Bob Berry, drove to Geneva by the midnight ferry in March 1961, unveiled to the press there on 15 March, and The Autocar's road-test car.

The front of a grey E-Type coupé with the registration 9600 HP on grass, a green E-Type behind.
9600 HP (885002), the 1961 Geneva press coupé, at a concours in 2021.Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0

By the Jaguar Heritage Trust's account, Sir William Lyons greeted his PR manager, Bob Berry, at Geneva on 15 March 1961 with "good God, Berry, I thought you weren't going to get here". Berry had driven the grey coupé 9600 HP from Coventry himself and arrived with minutes to spare, and that day it was the car unveiled to the press.

Its papers and its life, stop by stop, are in the car's history below. This page tells the stories around them: why it was late, what it was, and the claims made for it since.⁠1​2​3

A prototype first

Sources for 9600 HP

François Prins, "Evolution of the E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust⁠4; XKEdata (xke.collectordata.com), Car page 885002 (9600 HP)⁠5; Dominic Tobin, "E-types assemble for 60th anniversary celebration at Shelsley Walsh", Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), 11 Jun 2021⁠6; Jaguar Clubs of North America, Series 1 E-Type Judge's Guide (draft), part 1: Intro–Exterior, Draft, version of 21 Jul 2026⁠7; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition"⁠1; Paul Skilleter, The Jaguar E-type: A Collector's Guide, Motor Racing Publications, 1979⁠8; Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Celebrates 50 Years of Iconic E-type" (press release), 24 Jan 2011⁠3; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022⁠9; Motor Sport, "Jaguar E-type: the end of production and end of an era – but not of a legend", May 1975, p. 29⁠10; Bill Boddy, "The New 3.8-Litre Jaguar E-Type G.T.", Motor Sport, Apr 1961, p. 35⁠11; Gordon Cruickshank, "9600 HP: The World's Oldest E-type book review", Motor Sport, Sep 2021, p. 50⁠12; Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Classic Reveals E-type 60 Collection: 60th Anniversary Tribute to the Iconic Sports Car" (press release), 12 Mar 2021⁠2; Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), "Jaguar E-type anniversary at Shelsley Walsh: review", 17 Jun 2021⁠13

9600 HP was a working prototype before it was a press car: the Trust counts car 885002 as its seventh, "FHC Prototype No 7". Two dates are given for its move to press work, and both stand. The Trust has it registered on 10 February 1961; the JCNA's judges' guide, drawn from the factory's records, gives 14 March, the day it left for Geneva, as its dispatch date.

It was not quite a showroom car. Paul Skilleter noted in 1979 that it "also possessed other non-standard features", and at Geneva, Philip Porter found, it had no front overriders (bumper guards).⁠4​5​8​14​6​7

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The Geneva drive

It was finished only the night before it left, and, as Motor Sport's review of Porter's history of the car put it in 2021, the firm feared that it might be the only E-Type to reach Geneva. Rather than send it by transporter, Berry drove it all the way himself.

it was the only car I actually drove flat out from one end to the other of a journey, simply to get there on time. It was the most incredible journey and I've never forgotten it.

Bob Berry, as quoted by the Jaguar Heritage Trust

The press drives that followed outran one car, and the second, 77 RW, came out through the night. When Jaguar Classic made its 60 Collection in 2021, it engraved its own version of Lyons's greeting on the coupés: "I thought you'd never get here".⁠1​8​12​3​2

A wide lawn leading to a restaurant building with white parasols among tall cedars.
The Parc des Eaux-Vives, Geneva, in August 2024: where 9600 HP was unveiled to the press on 15 March 1961. No car is shown.3lisai-4u, CC0

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Two Geneva mix-ups

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The road tests

Two magazines drove it that spring: The Autocar, for its issue of 24 March 1961, and Motor Sport's Bill Boddy, who ran a coupé up the M1 that Motor Sport later said was this one. Both tests are in the car's history below, and how far a prepared press car on racing tyres speaks for the E-Type's top speed is taken up on the specifications page.⁠8​10​11​6​14

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After Geneva

The car went on working. According to Motor Sport, Stirling Moss used it to open Britain's first automatic car wash. It later passed through private hands, among them, Porter's history records, the racing driver Jack Fairman's, and in 1977 it was bought by its present owner, who kept it unrestored in a barn for many years.

Period photographs of 9600 HP at Geneva in 1961, then the three launch cars together at Shelsley Walsh in June 2021.Video: Jaguar E-type - The 1961 Geneva Launch Cars, Berlinetta Films, 2021

It is, as its owner describes it, the oldest surviving E-Type coupé; E2A, the racing prototype of 1960, also survives. Philip Porter has written its history twice, in The Most Famous Car in the World (2002), a title he says the publisher chose, and in 9600 HP: The World's Oldest E-type (2021).⁠6​14​12​16​17​13​4

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Where it has been

  1. 1960

    Built as a prototype coupé

    A left-hand-drive 3.8 fixed-head coupé, completed in 1960 for development work: the seventh prototype by the JDHT's count and, of the 1959–60 development cars, one that survives. It was tested at MIRA and run at high speed on the new M1

    François Prins, "Evolution of the E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust⁠4; XKEdata (xke.collectordata.com), Car page 885002 (9600 HP)⁠5; Dominic Tobin, "E-types assemble for 60th anniversary celebration at Shelsley Walsh", Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), 11 Jun 2021⁠6

  2. 1961

    Registered 9600 HP

    10 February 1961. Having come through its testing, it was registered 9600 HP on 10 February 1961 and set aside as a press car

    François Prins, "Evolution of the E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust⁠4

  3. 1961

    Driven to Geneva by Bob Berry

    14 March 1961. Dispatched on 14 March 1961, it left Browns Lane later than planned, and Jaguar's PR manager Bob Berry drove it to Geneva himself: the midnight ferry from Dover, fog between Calais and Reims, and arrival about 20 minutes before the press presentation

    Jaguar Clubs of North America, Series 1 E-Type Judge's Guide (draft), part 1: Intro–Exterior, Draft, version of 21 Jul 2026⁠7; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition"⁠1; Paul Skilleter, The Jaguar E-type: A Collector's Guide, Motor Racing Publications, 1979⁠8

  4. 1961

    Shown to the press in Geneva

    15 March 1961. At the Parc des Eaux-Vives restaurant it was the car unveiled to the press, with Sir William Lyons beside it. Berry then gave journalists runs up a nearby hill, and demand was such that Lyons sent for a second car, the roadster 77 RW. The coupé on the show stand was another car, 885005

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition"⁠1; Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Celebrates 50 Years of Iconic E-type" (press release), 24 Jan 2011⁠3; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022⁠9

  5. 1961

    The Autocar's road test

    March 1961. The Autocar tested it, recording a mean maximum of 150.4 mph and 0–60 mph in 6.9 seconds. The car had been prepared, and ran on Dunlop R5 racing tyres

    Paul Skilleter, The Jaguar E-type: A Collector's Guide, Motor Racing Publications, 1979⁠8; Motor Sport, "Jaguar E-type: the end of production and end of an era – but not of a legend", May 1975, p. 29⁠10

  6. 1961

    Motor Sport's run on the M1

    April 1961. Bill Boddy of Motor Sport ran an E-Type coupé on the M1 at about 155 mph by his own reckoning; Motor Sport later identified the car as 9600 HP

    Bill Boddy, "The New 3.8-Litre Jaguar E-Type G.T.", Motor Sport, Apr 1961, p. 35⁠11; Dominic Tobin, "E-types assemble for 60th anniversary celebration at Shelsley Walsh", Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), 11 Jun 2021⁠6

  7. 2000

    Restored

    Classic Motor Cars of Bridgnorth restored it, and it was back on the road in 2000

    Gordon Cruickshank, "9600 HP: The World's Oldest E-type book review", Motor Sport, Sep 2021, p. 50⁠12

  8. 2021

    Honoured in Jaguar Classic's 60 Collection

    March 2021. Jaguar Classic's E-Type 60 Collection, announced in August 2020 and revealed in March 2021, included six coupés in Flat Out Grey after 9600 HP

    Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Classic Reveals E-type 60 Collection: 60th Anniversary Tribute to the Iconic Sports Car" (press release), 12 Mar 2021⁠2

  9. 2021

    First up the hill at Shelsley Walsh

    12 June 2021. It opened the hill at the E-Type's 60th-anniversary weekend at Shelsley Walsh, 12–13 June 2021, the first car to climb

    Dominic Tobin, "E-types assemble for 60th anniversary celebration at Shelsley Walsh", Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), 11 Jun 2021⁠6; Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), "Jaguar E-type anniversary at Shelsley Walsh: review", 17 Jun 2021⁠13

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Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  1. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition", Geneva Motor Show, 1961. Reference
  2. Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Classic Reveals E-type 60 Collection: 60th Anniversary Tribute to the Iconic Sports Car" (press release), 12 Mar 2021, the engravings. Primary
  3. Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Celebrates 50 Years of Iconic E-type" (press release), 24 Jan 2011. Primary
  4. François Prins, "Evolution of the E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, The Next Prototypes. Reference
  5. XKEdata (xke.collectordata.com), Car page 885002 (9600 HP). Reference
  6. Dominic Tobin, "E-types assemble for 60th anniversary celebration at Shelsley Walsh", Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), 11 Jun 2021, the M1 running; the car wash. Reference
  7. Jaguar Clubs of North America, Series 1 E-Type Judge's Guide (draft), part 1: Intro–Exterior, Draft, version of 21 Jul 2026, Pre-production E-Types; Pre-production E-Types: dispatched 14 March 1961; Pre-production E-Types: 885005. Reference
  8. Paul Skilleter, The Jaguar E-type: A Collector's Guide, Motor Racing Publications, 1979. Reference
  9. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022, fact 49. Primary
  10. Motor Sport, "Jaguar E-type: the end of production and end of an era – but not of a legend", May 1975, p. 29, p. 29. Primary
  11. Bill Boddy, "The New 3.8-Litre Jaguar E-Type G.T.", Motor Sport, Apr 1961, p. 35, p. 35. Primary
  12. Gordon Cruickshank, "9600 HP: The World's Oldest E-type book review", Motor Sport, Sep 2021, p. 50, p. 50. Reference
  13. Motor Sport (motorsportmagazine.com), "Jaguar E-type anniversary at Shelsley Walsh: review", 17 Jun 2021. Reference
  14. Philip Porter, The Most Famous Car in the World: The Story of the First E-type Jaguar, Orion, 2002, notes on 885002, body V1002; the front overriders at Geneva; "I bought 9600 HP from Mr Fairman". Reference
  15. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1961 Jaguar E-type 77 RW: The First E-type OTS". Primary
  16. Sabu Advani, "9600 HP, The Story of the World's Oldest E-Type Jaguar" (book review), SpeedReaders (speedreaders.info), 2021. Reference
  17. Jaguar E-type Club, Jaguar E-type Club: home page and "About Us". Reference

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