The great Enzo Ferrari once referred to the Jaguar E Type as “the most beautiful car ever made.” So, needless to say, managing to improve the appearance of what’s already widely considered to be one of the finest automotive designs of all time is no easy feat, yet that’s exactly what was done to the iconic British sportscar in 1963 when a heavily-upgraded and more aerodynamic E Type was developed for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Of the more than 70,000 units produced across the E Type’s 13 years in production, only a dozen examples would be of the “Low Drag” variety. Developed using pieces of string taped to the outside of the car and primarily roadtested on the UK’s M1 motorway, the Low Drag E Type featured a steel monocoque tub that was adorned in hand-worked aluminum body panels that gave the racer a more slippery drag coefficient. These purpose-built, cutting-edge, lightweight factory race cars featured suspension that received all-new geometry which hugely bolstered stability under hard braking, as well as a new engine with a revised combustion chamber and camshafts that, along with a variable-length exhaust setup, afforded the Low Drag E Type enough power to clock a speed of 174mph down the Circuit de la Sarthe’s Mulsanne Straight — in the wet!
Believed to now be one of two known examples in existence, this particular Low Drag specimen has undergone an extensive four-year rebuild by renowned marque specialists Lynx. Powering this ultra-rare Jaguar is a 350-hp Crosthwaite & Gardiner engine with an alloy cylinder block, Lucas slide-throttle fuel injection, and a Lynx T5 five-speed gearbox. The car has also been driven very little and as such sports very few original miles.
This ultra-rare low-mile 1962 Jaguar E Type ‘Low Drag’ is currently for sale through the UK’s Will Stone Historic Cars in Marlborough where the vehicle’s price is available upon request.
