Jaguar E-Type Review

Boddy's report appeared in Motor Sport's April issue. The brakes stopped the car from high speed "to a crawl without deviation", and he forgave the gearbox (transmission) for now: "The synchromesh can be beaten if the gearlever is handled too rapidly but otherwise this is a precise, excellent gearbox." He wanted a bigger fuel tank. But what struck him was the price, "only about a third of the price of a G.T. Maserati or Ferrari of something like equivalent performance", and he ended on it:

The two weekly magazines tested works press cars that March: The Autocar the coupé 9600 HP, The Motor the roadster 77 RW. Their full tests were not among the sources read. Motor Sport quoted The Autocar's verdict in 1975, "a break-through in design of high-performance vehicles for sale to the public", and the top speeds both weeklies recorded made the car's name; how far the press cars were prepared is told on the specifications page.⁠source 1​source 2

America's first report came from Gordon Wilkins, Motor Trend's European editor, who drove a coupé in Britain for the issue of July 1961. "It is unquestionably the fastest car to be made in quantity and offered to the public as a package," he wrote; "Road holding is superb — the best on any Jaguar to date." His reservations were the cramped cabin and the gearbox, which "is not the best feature of the car", and his last line was: "The XK-E, in my opinion, is the best thing Jaguar has ever done".

Car and Driver took a roadster from Jaguar in New York, a demonstrator, to Detroit and back for its December issue:

It listed the faults too: seats whose bead drilled into the driver's back, cramped pedals, rain that leaked in over the windscreen (windshield) and at the doors, a boot (trunk) with no drain holes, poor ventilation with the hood (soft top) up, and an engine that used a great deal of oil. Its forecast was generous all the same: "We expect as the E-Type evolves it will become one of the world's truly great cars from any standpoint." The same issue set the E-Type against the Corvette of the 1962 model year, which the rivals page describes.

In 1962 Boddy took a roadster 2,800 miles, from Coventry to Monaco and back, for Motor Sport's issue of July. He praised its performance, its brakes, its ride and its roadholding, and the hood, "made in Jaguar's own trim-shop, each one individually tailored". He had complaints too: petrol (gas) fumes in the boot, a cracked sump, a fuel range too short for long journeys, and the boot lid, which "would open of its own volition" on rough roads at speed, "a fault not confined to this particular E-type". The luggage space settled a question of definition: "That this 2-seater is not a true Gran Turismo car was evident when we had to pack our evening suits into one case."

The 4.2 answered the early tests' main complaint. Motor Sport's test of January 1965 called its all-synchromesh gearbox "the greatest single improvement over the 3.8", whose own box gave off "a good deal of whine". The test car had faults of its own, among them its brake servo, its idling and fumes, but the verdict was the warmest yet: "In its latest form it is very near perfection." Cecil Clutton, who had preferred the XK150 to an early 3.8, wrote to the magazine that April that the 4.2 was "an entirely transformed car, and in my view a great advance on the 150", and that its new gearbox was "a real joy to use".⁠source 6​source 7

Motor Sport explained in April 1966 that the 2+2 had been built partly to earn more dollars, and that a strike had kept it from the London motor show, so it was "first shown at Geneva last month". The magazine found that "unless you have just parted with a 2-seater E-type coupe, you would not know the difference when driving it", and Jenkinson's conclusion placed it carefully: "To my mind the E-type Jaguar is a very nice, refined, touring car for Touring in the Grand manner, and that does not mean Gran Turismo." He found the finish skimped in places, but a Ferrari, he pointed out, cost as much as three E-Types. He found corrosion under the bonnet of a car with 5,000 miles on it, and the box between the seats so shortened that it "now barely takes maps".

Boddy's test of the manual 2+2 in January 1967 came to the same place by a different road:

No period road test of the Series 2 was among the sources read. The best witness is an owner's. Denis Jenkinson ran a 1970 roadster, slower than his old 4.2 coupé, and did not mind: "In 25,000 miles with the 1970 roadster I have not missed the lack of top speed on more than two or three occasions."⁠source 10

Jenkinson drove the V12 for Motor Sport in April 1971 and was of two minds. He admired the engine, and the factory that built it, but the car was not what he had hoped for: he was "nonplussed because I had been expecting an 'F'-type Jaguar, not a third series 'E'-type", and he disliked the new 2+2 body and "a decorative bird-cage grille stuck up its nose". Still, "Jaguars have made an impressive step forward in refinement". In America, Road & Track later recalled, the New York International Show of April 1971 "introduced … the Jaguar E-Type V-12" to the public.

Boddy tested a manual V12 2+2 for January 1972. He found the driving position cramped, the clutch heavy, the gear change stiff and notchy, the minor controls "out-dated", and the car itself unforgettable: "It remains an unforgettable motoring experience", "twelve-cylinder Jaguar motoring being travel of a most effortless kind".⁠source 10​source 11​source 12

When the E-Type went, Motor Sport gave it a long obituary. The early 1960s, with their speed, reasonable freedom and value for money and the standing of the British motor industry, were over, C. R. wrote, "and nothing seems to signify this more than the demise of the E-type." He closed on what the car had come to stand for; the last E-Type page quotes him.

HDU 555N, the last car, which he described, was built on 12 June 1974 and is in the Jaguar Heritage Trust's collection. Films of E-Types on the road are on the home page and the roadster and V12 pages.⁠source 2