Power – the history of the jaguar e-type

Regularly voted one of the most beautiful cars in the world, the Jaguar E-type is the pinnacle of style. Manufactured between 1961 and 1974, 70,000 were sold. Now they are collectors’ items, sought after by the connoisseurs of finesse and power. They regularly sell for tens – sometimes hundreds – of thousands of pounds.

When the E-type debuted in the market, Enzo Ferrari called it the most beautiful car ever made. Heck, this an automobile – one of only six – that has a permanent place in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art’s design collection.

When it launched, the E-type was aspirational – but not out-of-this-world. It cost £2,000 – about the price of the average house. It was the dream car for a post-war Britain that needed the whoosh of air going past its ears as it sped along the newly built motorways. Although the E-type had a top speed of a rather meagre 150mph, it was still the fasted thing out there at the time.

Of course, they got lapped up. And this was helped by a considerable celebrity following – Tony Curtis had and E-type and so did Roy Orbison, Sid James, George Best, Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen. Austin Powers drives one in the films, a fitting homage to this car which is as much an icon of the 1960s as miniskirts and The Beatles.