The 1961 Jaguar E-Type ‘Flat Floor’ Roadster - “the most advanced sports car in the world”.

Looking at this 1961 E-Type ‘Flat Foor’ Roadster makes you consider the Jaguar’s impact on the average British motorist of 1961. It was a time when Ford still offered the Popular 100E, featuring vacuum-powered wipers and its venerable 1,172cc engine. 100 mph - “The Ton” was a top speed beyond a typical large saloon, such as a Vauxhall Cresta PA. At the same time, starting handles were standard fare on your average Morris Oxford or Humber Hawk.

And then, at the cinema, you saw a newsreel of a vision of the future on the M1x, with a police Ford Zephyr Mk.2 Farnham Estate hovering in the background. Mesmerised, you seek out the 24th of March edition of Autocar to learn: “At 140 mph, the car seems in one sense to be clinging to the road, so stable is its progress, yet in another sense it feels to be flying over it”. In top gear the E-Type Coupe could achieve “151.7 mph” - a speed akin to a jet aircraft to the average Hillman Minx driver.

Small wonder that when the E-Type made its bow at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, The Motor reported it was “regarded with something close to incredulity”. To quote Jaguar’s press release:

No more famous background can be found anywhere than that which lies behind the Jaguar “E “Type “Grand Touring” models. Developed from the famous ‘C’ and ‘D’ Type Sports-Racing cars with their illustrious records of successes on the race tracks of the world, the ‘E’ Type cars are presented as fast, elegant and luxuriously appointed road vehicles incorporating very many features derived from the vast store of experience gained in international competitive events.

Automotive press releases in 1961 had a grandeur sadly lacking in the modern world.

Crucially, the E-Type was also more attainable than an Aston Martin DB4. £2,097 for the Roadster and £2,196 for the Coupe meant they were four times more expensive than a Mini, but for a trainee solicitor or chartered accountant, future Jaguar ownership was not an impossible dream. At £3,967, the Aston Martin was for film stars in the Laurence Harvey/Peter Sellers class. Perhaps the great L.J.K Setright best summarised the E-Type’s impact when he wrote:

The very idea that it was possible to buy in the 1960s a mass-produced two-seater of modest size, dramatic appearance and quite fantastic performance for less than £2100 (apart from tax) smote the entire motoring world with a sense of awe that it had not felt since the unveiling of the original XK120.

‘Flat Floor’ refers to the very early E-Types made before 1962 when Jaguar lowered the floor to accommodate the occupants better. Ken’s example is a reminder of just how a Roadster must have appeared to the average motorist circa 1961. You can imagine pipes falling in amazement from the mouths of Singer Gazelle owners as an E-Type overtook them on the M1.

In 1961, Jaguar claimed: “The ‘E’ Туре car is not just another Sports car in the conventional sense of the word. It is an entirely new concept of high speed motoring”. This was no hyperbole. The E-Type appeared to anticipate a brave new decade in a year when The Beatles were still a rock and roll band dividing their time between Liverpool and Hamburg, the last conscripted servicemen were still undertaking their National Service.

As the advertisements stated on the 15th of March 1961, here was “the most advanced sports car in the world”.

With thanks to Ken Jenkins of https://www.ukjag.co.uk/store/ for his time.

With thanks to Ken Jenkins of https://www.ukjag.co.uk/store/ for the permission to use the images in this blog.