Jaguar Lightweight E-Type makes a comeback after 50 years - 6 new Lightweights to be built

Jaguar are building six new Lightweight E-Types – 50 years after the original twelve – using the ‘missing’ chassis numbers from the original planned run of eighteen.

6 new Jaguar Lightweight E-Types on the way

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Even in 1963, car makers made ‘special editions’ of production cars, and one such car was the Jaguar Lightweight E-Type, a lightweight version of the then new production E-Type designed to take Jaguar racing.

This was in the days before carbon fibre panels, so Jaguar built many of the body panels from aluminium and fitted an aluminium block version of the 3.8 litre engine from the production E-Type with 300bhp (55bhp more than the road car), fuel injection and a ZF 5-speed gearbox.

The Lightweight E-Type wasn’t a spectacular success on the track, and Jaguar ended up building just 12 of the original planned run of 18. But now, 50 years on, the remaining six are going in to production.

The new Lightweight E-types will be hand-built by Jaguar with exactly the same specification as the originals – and be given the six missing serial numbers – and Jaguar will be doing a Ferrari by picking just who they will let buy these perfect recreations.

Jaguar aren’t letting on how much they want for the Lightweights, although it’ll be a chunk less than the £5 million you could be for an original car but, just like the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato Sanction II was, it will still be serious money but probably a good investment.

The first new Jaguar Lightweight E-Type will make its debut later this summer.