"A unique opportunity to own an un-restored 1961 E-Type in fine driving condition"

CHASSIS 45

Chassis number 860045 was manufactured on 22 November 1961, and is a matching numbers UK delivered car, one of only 91 FHC’s produced in 1961. What makes chassis 45 so special is that she is both highly original, and retains all of the early features that make 1961 cars so sought after. Chassis 45 has been recently thoroughly but gently re-commissioned by the current owner, and now presents and drives beautifully. The car represents a possibly unique opportunity to purchase a very early E-type in ultra-rare original, but fine driving condition.

THE JAGUAR E-TYPE

What makes a car famous? Some cars are famous because millions have been built. Others are much rarer but have something that makes them stand out, be that style, speed or luxury. What makes the most famous cars stand out however, whether it is the humble beetle or Royal Rolls Royce, is that everyone recognises them and knows what they are. The style and shape of a Jaguar E-type puts it right up there with the other most famous cars in history. The E-type has an extraordinary and iconic image which has endured for over 50 years.

What a different world it was when the E-Type was launched back in 1961. The cold war was raging and the Communists built the Berlin wall. On the home front, £20 was a good weekly wage for a working man. The cheapest new car on the market cast about £500, and a house could be bought for £2000. It was the era when “ We never has it so good”, according to the prime minister Harold McMillan. It was the start of “the swinging sixties”.

It was a perfect time for Jaguar to introduce a sensational new sports car. The E-type was launched to a stunned world at the Geneva Motor show in March 1961. The secret behind the E-type’s appeal was that it combined all of the traditional virtues of Jaguar, such as style, performance and value for money, with a new chassis which offered unrivalled road performance. It was simply the most advanced sportscar in the world, with a top speed of over 150 miles per hour. Although developed directly from Jaguar’s successful racing cars, the E-type was also smooth and sophisticated, and was just as happy pottering around town as it was on long journeys down the motorway.

Little wonder then that so may famous people wanted to own an E-type when it first came out. Jaguar made certain that selected customers, like racing drivers, were given priority. Leading drivers of the day including Graham Hill, Roy Salvadori, Briggs Cunningham and Jackie Stewart bought them either for their private use or to race. Other well- known owners included Inness Ireland, John Surtees, Adam Faith and George Harrison. Even Royalty like the Duke of Kent and his brother Prince Michael bought E-types. With this huge demand for cars, you really had to stand out from the crowd in order to have the good fortune of owning an E-type in 1961.

To put things into context, only 91 Fixed head coupes were delivered to the UK home market in 1961, making these cars just as rare as the much more discussed outside bonnet lock open top cars.

CHASSIS 45 HISTORY

Chassis number 860045 was manufactured on 22^th November 1961 and dispatched to Henleys Manchester on 30^th November 1961. The dispatching dealer was W Watson and company of Hamilton Street, Birkenhead, Liverpool who taxed the car on 4 December 1961.

The brown log book, which remains with the car, shows that the first lucky owner was Kenneth Ward Burton of Woodhollow, Low Wood Grove, Barnston, Wirral who took delivery of the car later in December 1961.

For the next few years the car remained in the Cheshire area. In February 1972, the then owner decided that he would change the exterior and interior colours from Gunmetal/Light Blue leather to Red on Red. To that end he took the car to his local garage and asked for it to be re-sprayed in Carmen red. On returning to pick up the car, he found that he had been misunderstood by the garage, who had in fact painted the exterior colour Carmine red, a Rover colour. Seemingly the owner liked the finished look and the car has remained in this colour for the last 46 years! The final owner before the current custodian, William John Hanlon of Wallasy, Merseyside, purchased the car on 1 February 1985, when the car is recorded as having had five previous owners.

The current custodian purchased the car in December 2015 from Class Motor Cars Limited, the world renowned E-type restorers, and over the past couple of years has undertaken an enormously sensitive re-commissioning programme.

CHASSIS 45 CONDITION

Chassis 45 is that rarest of all things, an important motor car that is in substantially unrestored but in fine mechanical condition. On purchasing the vehicle, the current owner undertook a substantial programme of sympathetic re-commissioning. These works focused on addressing those aspects of the car which needed attention in order to make the car fully roadworthy and reliable. As such, mechanical items were checked and re-commissioned as necessary. Importantly, no attempt was made to “upgrade” any of the mechanical components, and so the car retains all of the features which makes 1961 cars so special. It should be noted that the paintwork had been refreshed at some point, and still remains in Carmine red. Only those works necessary to bring chassis 45 back to a fully useable driving car were carried out by the current owner, in order to retain as much originality as possible. Apart from new carpets, the interior was left untouched from the 1972 makeover.

Importantly, the car comes together with its original tool kit and Shelley jack, items which are hugely collectable in their own right.

SUMMARY

Chassis 45 retains the vast majority of the 1961 pre-mass production elements which collectors seek, including dynamo, smooth airbox, knife fan-blade, flat floors etc, and therefore represents an incredibly rare opportunity to purchase a largely original UK delivered 1961 FHC E-Type. With only 91 FHC cars delivered in 1961, it is likely that if not unique, Chassis 45 will be literally amongst only a handful of such original and fully functioning, UK cars remaining.