AN E-TYPE REALITY

Having owned E-Types almost as long as he has been driving, Tony takes a hard look at their rises and falls. His conclusion about their values will surprise.

- TONY BROWN

I AM NOT LOOKING AT THE MARKET in general, but concentrating on the 60th anniversary of the iconic E-Type, described by Enzo Ferrari as 'the prettiest car in the world'. Launched to a public still recovering from WW2, it created a frenzy amongst the assembled throng of journalists. Not only was it fast, feline and fantastic but the launch price, at £2,100 for the Roadster and £2,200 for the Coupé, was less than half that of any comparable sports car. So here I will follow the ups and downs of the E-Type.

By the end of 1962 your 'investment' had already lost you 30%, with 1961 cars regularly being offered for around £1,395. Indeed, the Lofty England chassis #4 here is advertised for the same sum, and another highly (today) collectable car, one of the first twenty.

If you kept your's, which no one really did in those days, by 1966 the same car could be found for less than £900. Indeed, in 1967 I bought my very first E-Type, a rather (read very) tatty outside lock white Roadster, for the grand sum of £300. I wrote it off six months later, trying to emulate Marc Bolan and finding that the oak tree was stronger than the E-Type. Even the launch of the V12 couldn’t halt the slide, especially as it coincided with petrol shortages. And so the car, now just an old model at the end of its days, was dropped in 1974. Some being held up to two years later with desperate dealers for prices down as low as £3,500.

The E-Type languished, just an old car, with prices being what you could get not what you asked. Vicious inflation at more than 25% in the late '70s restored the nominal if not real value, but a quick look at my 1979 Motor Sport reveals a 1968 FHC for £2,800. To put things in perspective, a 1973 Elan Sprint was £3,250 and a 1967 Mercedes 250SL £6,850.