Description
Chassis No. 885008
Engine No. R1116-9
Audiences at the 1961 Geneva motor show stood in awe as a large wooden crate ceremoniously folded away to reveal a gleaming Opalescent Silver Grey Jaguar Coupe underneath. The long-awaited successor to the XK150 was met with raucous applause and urgent demands to experience Coventry's latest creation, which saw the coupe joined by an equally stunning, British Racing Green open Roadster the following morning.
The faultless Malcolm Sayer-designed body of both cars gave no indication that they were hurriedly assembled less than two months prior, and that the latter had just completed a dramatic 17-hour journey from Coventry to Geneva with just enough time to be cleaned before giving demonstrations to the motoring press.
Such was the result of a short, and at times uncertain, development timeline, which did not begin with the goal of building a production road car. As its name suggests, the E-Type was at one time planned to be an evolution of the Le Mans-winning D-Type sports racer – plans that were scrapped in 1956 amidst Jaguar's increased focus on building road-going sports cars and saloons, followed by the termination of its works racing program in the same year.
The singular 'E Prototype' was dismantled, but its D-Type-derived chassis and 'E' suffix would live on thanks to Chief Engineer Bill Heynes, who recognized the importance of bringing a road-going E-Type to market. By early 1961, four pre-production E-Types – two Open Top Roadsters and two Fixed Head Coupes (FHC) – were complete, with chassis 850003, 885002 and 885005 due to appear in Geneva for the unveiling.
With the exception of Heynes, Jaguar vastly underestimated demand for the new sports car. As orders flooded in, the small team at Browns Lane produced bespoke, hand-assembled examples one by one, amounting to just 372 Roadsters and eleven Coupes by August 1961. Among collectors, these early E-Types – distinguishable by their outside bonnet latches, welded bonnet louvers, and flat floor – are the most significant and coveted non-competition Jaguars in existence.
According to Dr. Michael Mueller, the acknowledged world authority on early E-Types and co-author of the seminal book 'Jaguar E-Type Six-Cylinder Originality Guide,' only 500 'outside bonnet latch' E-Types were produced in 1961, of which just 20 were left-hand drive FHC. Of those 20, the first was dismantled (885001) and another destroyed in a fire (885007) before they could leave the factory, leaving a total of just 18 factory-built examples.
This car, chassis number 885008, is the eighth left-hand drive FHC E-Type ever built, the sixth to leave the factory, and one of only eleven known to exist today. Furthermore, 885008 is significant among them as the first to be offered for sale to a private owner, as chassis 885001 – 885007 were all either development vehicles or press cars for display at the Geneva and New York Motor Shows.
The Jaguar Heritage Trust Certificate on file indicates that this car was completed on 2 June 1961 – just months after the E-Type's debut in Geneva – and finished in the gorgeous color scheme of Opalescent Gunmetal Grey over Red Connolly leather it wears today. The E-Type was subsequently dispatched to Jaguar Cars New York on 24 August 1961, and while its first owner is not known, it is understood to have been discovered in a potato field in Youngstown, Ohio by a Mr. Renaldo Sanchez in the late-1970s. Sanchez retrieved the car and its various parts from the field, neglected and separated from its original engine, with the intention of conducting a full restoration.
When the project proved too challenging, he sold the car to Bill Welch, who then passed it on to its next owner in Florida. In 1997, heart surgeon and noted Jaguar historian Dr. Michael Mueller responded to a print advertisement for 885008, purchasing the incomplete Jaguar. Shortly thereafter, realizing the importance of these very early E-Types, Mueller smartly acquired chassis numbers 885009, 885013, and 885018 — over a third of the existing holy grail outside bonnet latch FHC E-Types — and with them, an unrivaled frame of reference with which to correctly and accurately restore 885008.
In an effort to return the E-Type as close to original specification as reasonably possible, Mueller contacted Sanchez, whose name still appeared on the title, and met with him in Ohio where he had initially disassembled the car 20 years earlier. There, they found the wiring harness, air cleaner, and commission plate among other valuable and important components thought to be missing. Two hours South in Steubenville, Ohio, Mueller also visited Bill Welch, who had recovered the Jaguar's original engine block and tucked it away in his workshop.
What followed was the most exacting and historically-correct restoration of an outside bonnet latch FHC undertaken at the time or since. The exhaustive two-year effort was conducted by multiple Jaguar Clubs North America (JCNA) award-winning restorer Jeff Snyder of Jeff's Resurrections, Taylor, Texas. Guided by Mueller's expertise and unrivaled access to early-production FHC parts, Snyder painstakingly brought the E-Type back to life in accordance with factory specifications.
The car was carefully reunited with its original engine block, differential, and radiator, as well as numerous other unobtainable parts including a correct outside bonnet latch cylinder head. Cosmetically, the exterior was renewed in its exquisite factory shade of Opalescent Gunmetal while the interior received new Red hides. Every aspect of the restoration was faithful to the delivery specifications, down to the factory pencil and chalk markings where they originally appeared on various components.
Since its completion in 2001, 885008 has seen tremendous success at the highest levels of JCNA competition, winning three national awards and receiving multiple 100-point scores in Class C05 (Jaguar E-Types, Series 1) events. In the ultimate endorsement of the restoration, Mueller was also approached by Jaguar North America to display 885008 at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours, where it was a featured car in Jaguar's 50th Anniversary Celebration of the E-Type. After nearly two decades of ownership – the latter 13 years spent showing the Jaguar in competitions and concours d'elegance across the country – Mueller's focus turned to restoring the other rare Jaguars in his collection which saw him relinquish 885008 after a private offer, changing hands to its current owner in 2014.
In the years since its restoration, the E-Type had begun to carry some signs of its age and use, prompting the new owner to return the car to its original restorer, Jeff's Resurrections, to conduct a sympathetic cosmetic refurbishment in 2015. Simultaneously, the original engine was sent to Terry's Jaguar, Benton, Illinois where it was carefully disassembled and completely rebuilt by Bill Terry – a trusted restoration partner of Dr. Mueller and one of the preeminent classic Jaguar mechanics in the country. An immense portfolio of photographs, service invoices, and dyno test sheets documenting the work performed is on file and available for review.
Of the eleven surviving outside bonnet latch FHC E-Types in existence today, 885008 stands head and shoulders above the rest for its national award-winning restoration, incredibly rare original components (completed before the abundance of reproduction parts), and stunning provenance linking it to the foremost expert on early-production E-Types. Owing to the individualized, hand-crafted nature of the earliest FHC, they remain some of the most unique and highly sought-after sports coupes in existence, many of them remaining closely held in private collections. This offering presents a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire chassis number 885008, a masterfully-restored outside bonnet latch FHC, and in doing so, an incredible piece of Jaguar history as well.
