Man Maths: Jaguar E-Type

But perhaps you can already see the problem with me dispensing advice about such cars? My perspective has no foundation in reality at all, based as it is almost exclusively on encounters with perfect, rare and unbelievably special cars belonging to other people. No E-Type ever cost me a penny.

That is not the experience of a typical owner. Quite aside from how they look and drive, there are other positive aspects to E-Type ownership: parts are plentiful and there is no shortage of specialists to look after them. And essentially the big oily bits have been built in such enormous numbers over such a vast period of time (remember the straight-six went into everything from hearses to Le Mans winners) that if properly treated and maintained they can accumulate vast mileages without significant issues.

But it’s a very big ‘if’ and the real problem is it’s not just the mechanicals you need to worry about. It’s the chassis and bodies too, which were pumped out in huge volumes for such cars at a time when the British car industry was perhaps not best known for its build quality. In short, E-Types rot. And because there were so many cars, they became very cheap in the late 1970s and early ’80s and many were poorly restored to take advantage of the late ’80s boom.

There are also still some dodgy cars out there. You’d not believe how well a neglected E-Type will scrub up when treated to some filler and a superficially decent respray. Such a car could bleed you white and it’s not as if at the end of the day you’re going to end up with a car worth millions. Because they were and remain so plentiful, E-Type values will never approach those of rarer, more exotic rivals from the same era such as the Aston Martin DB5 and Ferrari 250 GT (those these have fallen in value too).

And this is where the real problem lies for those who’d always hankered after owning such a car. It is the truth that E-Type values have fallen recently, and quite considerably. But it is only half the truth. The more fundamental truth you may not hear your dealer saying quite so readily is that those prices deserved to fall. It’s not so much that E-Types are cheap now, but that until recently they’ve been rather expensive. My very strong impression is that the anomalous prices are those from which they have now descended and that today they are roughly where they should be.

But that’s not bad news because it means the (very) careful shopper can buy a car and know they’re not paying over the odds and that it should provide years of enjoyment for not vast running costs.

As to which one to buy, everyone has a different answer but I have a clear favourite: a late Series 1 (so not a flat floor car because big people like me simply don’t fit in them), with the torquier 4.2-litre engine and sweet shifting Jaguar gearbox that replaced the slow and heavy Moss ’box used in the early cars. And it’d be a coupé. How much? Looking around I think about £100k is somewhere near the mark, but for goodness sake don’t take my word for it. Look carefully and get it checked by someone who knows them inside out. And maybe then you’ll still manage to bag one of the most beautiful bargains ever created.

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