Featured Auction - 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight (One Of 12)

By early 1961, Jaguar was beginning to deliver production E-Type roadsters to racing customers in advance of the model's official debut at Geneva in March. This was intended to create a competition aura around the E-Type, even if it was merely a steel-bodied road car. These cars were to receive special engines with gas-flowed cylinder heads, polished and crack-tested connecting rods, a lightened flywheel, a competition crankshaft damper, modified clutch, a close-ratio competition 4-speed gearbox, and trumpet tips for the S.U. carburettors.
Receptive nevertheless to the challenge of competing with Maranello's new thoroughbred, Jaguar moved a step further with the development of S850006, using it as the mold for 17 more competition cars. First entering the build process in October 1962, the racing E-Type also incorporated elements of an earlier works car known as the Low-Drag Coupe, for which Malcolm Sayers had revised his E-Type coachwork to feature a more aerodynamic roof and tail, including trailing exhaust vents.
The new cars were lightened with aluminum alloy bodies and an aluminum hardtop that strengthened the shell's rigidity. The 3.8-liter competition engines were further upgraded with Lucas fuel injection and dry-sump lubrication, while the chassis was modified with a revised suspension geometry and myriad other competition parts.
Other than the development example, cars began numbering with S850659 and proceeded sequentially to S850669, all within the standard E-Type numbering. The only signifier of a Lightweight within the chassis number was the S prefix. As Jaguar didn't intend to build enough cars for the Lightweight to be homologated separately, the model was passed off as part of the production E-Type family even though very few parts were shared, and it was never formally marketed or acknowledged in sales materials. The lack of factory marketing has only contributed to the model's increased cachet over the decades, lending it a shroud of mystery.

Read the full article, and find out more about the holy grail of rare Jaguars, here on Gaukmotors: gaukmotors.co.uk/post/featured-auction---1963-jaguar-e-type-lightweight-one-of-12

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Featured Auction - 1963 Jaguar E-type Lightweight (One of 12)

Since the E-type Lightweight is so rare, being 1 of 12 original cars, it's become a holy grail for classic Jaguar collectors everywhere, and fetch incredible prices.