E-TYPE 60

IT IS TIME TO CELEBRATE THE E-TYPE WAS SEEN AND PUT ON SALE 60 YEARS AGO. IF YOU STILL WANT ONE SOME CAN BE QUITE AFFORDABLE.

- LES. HUGHES

ITS CREATOR

SIXTY YEARS INTO ITS LIFE THE E-TYPE STILL LOOKS beautiful. Enzo Ferrari called it: The most beautiful car ever made. What an astounding statement.

Its looks and mechanical designs are directly related to the 1954 D-Type which shocked the motoring world because the racer did not have a stand-alone chassis as did its competitors.

Instead, it employed a monocoque structure, a French term for 'single shell'. When Aussie Ron Gaudion joined Jaguar in 1955 to build D-Types, he told us recently he had no understanding of the car he was fabricating.

The technology was first employed in early boats, then aircraft, and Jaguar's Malcolm Sayer was previously an aerodynamacist with the Bristol AircraftCompany. He is the man who introduced aircraft technology to racing cars, via the D-Type. He was quietly spoken, created the dual Le Mans-winning C-Type in 1951 - and never referred to himself as a 'designer'. An aluminium monocoque was not used on an F1 machine until 1962 (Lotus).

At 17 Malcolm won the prestigious Empire Scholarship, and attended Loughborough College (later Loughborough University) in its Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, earning first-class honours.

The D-Type was tested in a wind-tunnel and featured the characteristic vertical fin to provide high-speed stability. Low (only 32 inches or 810 mm) and sleek, it was extremely fast. The 3.4 litre straight-six XK engine was redesigned and tilted at 8 degrees and developed 250 bhp with a top speed over 270 km/h.