Jaguar E-Type – the most beautiful car?

The 1961 Jaguar E-Type 3.8, from the first series later designated Series 1, is a classic whose fame can easily overshadow the car itself. Consider it without the legend: the small oval grille opening, the glass-covered headlights, and the hood that seems to take up half the body. Behind the wheel, you sit almost over the rear wheels. The proportions are bold, but the details tie everything together.

At its unveiling in Geneva in March 1961, two body styles were offered: an open two-seat roadster and an enclosed Fixed Head Coupé. Both were built by Jaguar, without an outside coachbuilder. The coupe registered 9600 HP played a central role in the launch. When another demonstration car was needed, Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis drove the roadster 77 RW from England to Geneva overnight.

The E-Type replaced the XK150 and brought a new design language to Jaguar’s sports cars. The marque’s successes at Le Mans had already given the name clout. Now a customer could buy something clearly related to the racing cars, but with a windshield, luggage space, and the ambition to work on ordinary roads.

Malcolm Sayer had worked in the aircraft industry before joining Jaguar. He approached body design through aerodynamics and geometric calculations rather than the strokes of a sketchbook alone. Lessons from the C-Type and D-Type carried over into the E-Type, while company chief William Lyons had a decisive influence on the final result.

The low nose flows into arched front fenders that give the driver a sense of where the wheels sit. On the coupe, the roof slopes toward a tapered, rounded tail, with a side-opening rear hatch. The roadster gives the same basic shape a lighter finish. Which is more beautiful depends largely on whether you prefer the coupe’s unbroken silhouette or the open car’s clean beltline.

The cabin is less a lounge than a precision workshop trimmed in leather. The large instruments sit in front of the driver, with smaller gauges and toggle switches grouped in the center. Embossed aluminum on the center section of the dashboard and the center console gives the early cars a distinctive gleam. The thin wooden steering wheel frames the view over the hood.

The first examples had flat cabin floors, which limited legroom. Early cars may also have external hood latches. Such details are important to collectors today, but they do not appear on every car from 1961. Build dates and chassis numbers must guide the assessment, not just the year of registration.