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<\/p>\nA 1961 Jaguar E-Type Series I Roadster set an auction sale record for a production version of this vehicle by selling for the equivalent of $1.139 million (911,250 pounds) at Gooding & Company’s 2023 London Auction. The car was the first E-Type sold and the fourth\u00a0right-hand-drive roadster variant built.<\/p>\n
This E-Type Roadster has other important ties to Jaguar. The first owner was\u00a0Frank England who ran the brand’s sports car racing program in the 1950s and later became the automaker’s CEO.<\/p>\n
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Jaguar built two road-going E-Type prototypes that the company used for internal testing.\u00a0England was the company’s\u00a0assistant managing director at the time, and he allocated the next\u00a0production-spec right-hand-drive Roadster to himself. This made the car the first one that Jag sold to a customer. England also loaned out his E-Type to the press and for publicity events.<\/p>\n
After changing hands a few times, this E-Type sat\u00a0disassembled from 1975 to 2002.\u00a0Classic Motor Cars Ltd. then did a multi-year restoration, which included creating a new hood to the original specifications. It still has the original numbers-matching engine. The Jag won the\u00a0Feline Finesse Award at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed.<\/p>\n
The early E-Type uses a 3.8-liter inline-six engine with three SU\u00a0carburetors that makes 265 horsepower. It has a four-speed manual gearbox. The four-wheel disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension were high-tech features by 1961 standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gooding & Company also attempted to sell the\u00a0first right-hand-drive production-spec E-Type at the auction in London. However, it didn’t find a buyer. That car was a fixed head coupe hardtop and had its original engine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There’s a market for converting the E-Type into an electric vehicle. In the United Kingdom, the company\u00a0Electrogenic offers a package consisting of a 160-hp motor and a 43-kilowatt-hour battery that provides a range of around 150 miles.\u00a0ECD Automotive Design in the United States offers a similar upgrade but uses a Tesla-sourced powertrain providing 450 hp and 200 miles of driving distance.<\/p>\n