‘So wrote the UK’s GQ magazine of the Jaguar XKE, immortalized at New York’s MOMA and the London Design Museum – the ‘E-type’ as it is known in the UK, the supercar’s country of origin.

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‘Allegedly described by Enzo Ferrari as ‘The most beautiful car ever made’, the E-type launched at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, becoming the icon of 1960s’ motoring, billed as the 150 mph. Jaguar. But it had narrowly averted utter disaster when the launch model arrived in Switzerland from the UK only 20 minutes before the unveiling. Celebrity owners soon included Beatle George Harrison, actor Tony Curtis, superstar soccer-player George Best, and man-of-all-seasons Mr Frank Sinatra – at the 1961 New York Auto Show launch Sinatra was said to have declared, ‘I want that car and I want it now!’

‘The E-Type comes equipped with a 4-speed manual transmission, 3.8-liter engine, triple SU carburetors, toggle switches, wood steering wheel, soft top, covered headlights, 4-wheel disc brakes, wire wheels, spare tire, and jack. Also included are service documents and receipts, with copies dating from 1975 to 2020 totaling over $35,000 invested in the vehicle. This is a unique opportunity to find a rare factory right-hand drive E-Type Roadster that has had the same owner since 1985 and is mechanically sound.

‘GQ attributes much of the success of the car, and it’s subsequent legend, to ‘the design genius’ Malcolm Sayer. But who was the somewhat under-sung Sayer?

‘Moreover it is entirely due to Sayer that the now legendary and remarkable XKE became the first large-scale production car based on aircraft principles.

‘So how did this come about? Through an interesting geopolitical twist. In 1948 Sayer, with a first-class degree in Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, journeyed to Iraq, to set up a Faculty of Engineering at Baghdad university: quickly he understood that this was a not a feasible venture and returned to the UK in 1950. But while in Iraq Malcolm Sayer had met a German professor who helped him to comprehend the mathematical relationship to curve shapes and identity.

‘This engineering team then started to work up the Jaguar E-Type, beginning with its design. Styled by Sir William Lyons, founder and chairman of Jaguar at the time, XKE Jaguars are clearly gorgeous cars. But through the combined skills of Sayer’s engineering subtleties and complex understanding of sophisticated style, they were transformed into something close to metaphysical machines.

‘Whenever called for, Malcolm Sayer had a delightfully nuts-and-bolts approach to problems. After wind-testing of the new E-Type revealed an inconsistency with results obtained on actual road tests, Sayer called in at a wool shop, then attached four-inch strands of wool to the car, thereby coming up with the answer to this arcane mathematical mystery. Even today, many of the design elements associated with the E-Type Jaguar can be found on the company’s cars.

‘When the XKE launched in 1961, Jaguar was an independent company. By the time the final Series 3 car rolled off the production line 13 years later, it had been swallowed up by the giant British Leyland combine, something of a disaster for the British automobile industry.

But to return to the glory days of Jaguar’s beautiful XKEs, check out our 1964 model: I feel it is impossible not to be made extremely happy by this car.

-Alex Manos, Owner