JaguarE-Type

Sir William Lyons and the Jaguar E-Type

Jaguar's founder and chairman, who kept the title of Chief Stylist and the last word on the E-Type's looks, and presented the car to the press himself at Geneva in March 1961.

A bronze bust of a bald man in spectacles and a suit beside a Jaguar Heritage sign.
A bronze bust of Sir William Lyons at Coventry Transport Museum, photographed in 2014: a sculpture, not a photograph of the man.Draco2008 from UK, CC BY 2.0

On 15 March 1961, at the restaurant in the Parc des Eaux-Vives in Geneva, Sir William Lyons stood beside a grey coupé and showed the press the E-Type. He was the founder and chairman of Jaguar, and he had the last word on how the car looked.

His life, date by date, and his roles are in the panels on this page. Below are the company he built and what he did for the E-Type.⁠1​2

From sidecars to Jaguar

Sources for Sir William Lyons

Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022⁠3; François Prins, "The Story of the E1A: The Experimental Car That Preceded The E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust⁠4; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition"⁠1; Christopher Mount, Refining the Sports Car: Jaguar's E-Type (exhibition brochure), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Exhibition 282, 1996⁠5; Richard Heseltine, "Jaguar E-type", Motor Sport, Mar 2007, p. 80⁠6; Motor Sport, "Obituary" (Sir William Lyons), Mar 1985, p. 20⁠7; The London Gazette, The London Gazette, Supplement 40669, p. 2 (New Year Honours 1956: Knights Bachelor), Supplement of 2 Jan 1956, p. 2⁠8; Bill Boddy, "The New 3.8-Litre Jaguar E-Type G.T.", Motor Sport, Apr 1961, p. 35⁠9; Motor Sport, "Jaguar E-type: the end of production and end of an era – but not of a legend", May 1975, p. 29⁠10; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-type Series 3 V12 OTS HDU 555N: The Last E-type Built"⁠11; The Museum of Modern Art (GitHub: MuseumofModernArt/collection), MoMA collection research dataset: Artists.csv⁠12

Lyons was born in 1901. From sidecars his firm moved on to Swallow bodies for other makers' cars and then to its own SS cars; his partner, William Walmsley, left in 1934, and the SS Jaguar arrived in 1935. Through the 1950s its sports-racing cars won Le Mans five times. He was knighted in the New Year Honours of 1956, listed in the London Gazette as "William LYONS, Esq., Chairman and Managing Director, Jaguar Cars, Ltd., Coventry".

Sir William Lyons interviewed for Thames Television's Drive In in 1977, telling his story from the Swallow sidecars to the XJ saloon (sedan). The E-Type is not discussed.Video: Jaguar | Sir William Lyons | interview |1977, ThamesTv, 1977

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Lyons and the E-Type

The E-Type was a race-bred car sold at a modest price. Motor Sport saw it that way when it was announced.

What Sir William Lyons has done is to use all that was best in the race-bred and inspired C and D-type Jaguars, learn some useful lessons from the 3-litre Cunningham Jaguar built for the last Le Mans race, evolve stylish new bodywork and combine all these ingredients in a new British Grand Touring Jaguar…

Bill Boddy, Motor Sport, April 1961

Writing its farewell 14 years later, Motor Sport said that "in true William Lyons fashion, the price was set unbelievably low". The launch prices are on the 1961 page.⁠9​5​10

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The shape

Lyons could not draw. He styled from full-size mock-ups, which craftsmen altered at his direction, the opposite of Malcolm Sayer's method of calculation. Lyons wanted a coupé, and Blake's mock-up gave it its shape; it became his favourite E-Type, the Trust records (the coupé has its story).⁠1​5​13​14​15

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The launch

His part in the prototypes, E1A and E2A, is in his roles on this page and on the prototypes page. In Geneva, when journalists' demand for runs in 9600 HP outran one car, he telephoned the factory and sent for a second, 77 RW, which Norman Dewis drove through the night.

His name stayed with the car to the end. The last E-Types, the Commemorative roadsters finished in June 1974, each carried a dashboard plaque bearing a facsimile of his signature (the last E-Type has them).⁠4​3​1​11

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

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Retirement

He gave up the managing directorship in 1967, by Dewis's account, five years before he retired as chairman. When he died, in February 1985, Motor Sport's obituary measured him by his cars.

A list of the cars which Sir William personally supervised, which includes the XR.120, the C, D and E-Types, and the 3.8 saloon, says much more about the man's genius than any article could.

Motor Sport, March 1985⁠16​3​7

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Roles

  1. 1922

    Founder

    Founded the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool with William Walmsley in 1922; it went on to Swallow bodies and SS cars, and became Jaguar Cars on 23 March 1945

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022⁠3

  2. 1957

    Chairman

    Drove E1A himself on the roads near Browns Lane in May 1957, according to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust

    François Prins, "The Story of the E1A: The Experimental Car That Preceded The E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust⁠4; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition"⁠1

  3. 1960

    Chairman

    Agreed to Briggs Cunningham's request to run E2A at Le Mans in 1960, according to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust

    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022⁠3

  4. 1961

    Chief Stylist

    15 March 1961–1972. As chairman he held the title of Chief Stylist, and with it the final say on every design: Sayer drew the E-Type and Lyons approved and refined it. He presented the car to the press himself in the Parc des Eaux-Vives in Geneva on 15 March 1961. He retired as chairman in 1972, handing over to Lofty England

    Christopher Mount, Refining the Sports Car: Jaguar's E-Type (exhibition brochure), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Exhibition 282, 1996⁠5; Richard Heseltine, "Jaguar E-type", Motor Sport, Mar 2007, p. 80⁠6; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "E-Type Evolution Exhibition"⁠1; Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022⁠3

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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; E1A; the coupé; "Geneva Motor Show, 1961". Reference
  2. Jaguar Land Rover (Jaguar media newsroom), "Jaguar Celebrates 50 Years of Iconic E-type" (press release), 24 Jan 2011. Primary
  3. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "Swallow Sidecar Company Centenary 100 Facts Exhibition", 2022, facts 3–4, 27; facts 3–4, 19, 23, 27, 42; fact 48; fact 57. Primary
  4. François Prins, "The Story of the E1A: The Experimental Car That Preceded The E-Type", Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, May 1957. Reference
  5. Christopher Mount, Refining the Sports Car: Jaguar's E-Type (exhibition brochure), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Exhibition 282, 1996, exhibition essay. Reference
  6. Richard Heseltine, "Jaguar E-type", Motor Sport, Mar 2007, p. 80, p. 80. Reference
  7. Motor Sport, "Obituary" (Sir William Lyons), Mar 1985, p. 20, p. 20. Primary
  8. The London Gazette, The London Gazette, Supplement 40669, p. 2 (New Year Honours 1956: Knights Bachelor), Supplement of 2 Jan 1956, p. 2, Knights Bachelor, p. 2. Primary
  9. Bill Boddy, "The New 3.8-Litre Jaguar E-Type G.T.", Motor Sport, Apr 1961, p. 35, p. 35. 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. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1974 Jaguar E-type Series 3 V12 OTS HDU 555N: The Last E-type Built", the Commemorative cars. Primary
  12. The Museum of Modern Art (GitHub: MuseumofModernArt/collection), MoMA collection research dataset: Artists.csv, Lyons row. Reference
  13. Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, "1963 Jaguar E-type Series 1 Coupé YKE 374A". Primary
  14. Jaguar World (Kelsey Media), "Sentimental journey" (contents: "Malcolm Sayer tribute"), Nov 2015, pp. 42–49, Dewis on Lyons's mock-ups. Reference
  15. Alan Griffin, "Malcolm Sayer – Aerodynamicist and Designer of Jaguar cars", Leamington History Group, Mar 2014. Reference
  16. Simon Taylor, "Lunch with… Norman Dewis", Motor Sport, Apr 2013, p. 86. Reference

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