Jaguar E-Type lightweight to debut at Goodwood

A few months ago, we brought you the news about how Jaguar planned to build six very special E-Type lightweight edition cars as a part of their new Special Operations division. The E-Type lightweight will now officially be unveiled at the upcoming 2014 Pebble Beach concours d’elegance. Each of the six cars will be built to the same exact specification as the last Lightweight E-type produced in 1964 and will be handcrafted at the original home of the E-type, Jaguar's Browns Lane plant in Coventry, England. The cars will be sold as period competition vehicles and all will be suitable for FIA homologation for historic motorsport races like the LeMans Classics.

These six cars are the original missing vehicles from the GT E-Type project that started off originally in early 1963. Originally, Jaguar intended to build 18 cars as a part of series production, each out of a bespoke aluminum body as compared to the steel bodied regular E-types. That said, they only ended up building 12 of these custom bodied racecars for the road, each worth several million dollars today. The six new cars, which will be built by Jaguar, will follow the same chassis numbers as the original series.

Jaguar has gone to great lengths to ensure that the new cars as as original and authentic as the originals. In fact, Jaguar, with all its expertise in aluminum constructions, have decided to employ the same old hand crafted techniques for these special cars as compared to the more modern robotic assisted ones. The only areas where Jaguar has used modern technology is when they scanned the final original E-Type GT to recreate an accurate digital model for the new cars.

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Mechanically, a straight-six XK engine with double overhead camshafts and an aluminum head with hemispherical combustion chambers for high compression originally powered the lightweight E-Type. The same engine also powered the C-Type and D-Type to five LeMans victories in the 1950s. The six new cars will be offered with a 3.8-litre straight-six engine mated to either a Lucan fuel injection system or a set of three Weber 45DCO3 carburetors. Whether carburetors or fuel injection is specified by the owners, the new E-Type lightweight will make over 200PS of peak power and about 380Nm of peak torque. The engines will also be factory speced with a dry sump oil system with an inbuilt oil reservoir; another road going application developed from Jaguar’s extensive LeMans experience.

Jaguar has recommended the customers six heritage paint color options for the exterior: Carmine red, opalescent grey metallic, silver metallic, opalescent blue metallic, British racing green, Old English white. However, future owners can choose a special color option with a specific race inspired livery according to personal tastes. Expect the lightweight E-Type to cost a small fortune to the six lucky customers who are finally chosen to buy these cars.