A ‘Missing’ 1961 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Roadster up for auction at Silverstone

A very early demonstrator 1961 Jaguar E-Type – chassis #62 – is going up for auction at Silverstone after being rediscovered in Scotland. Estimate £140-170k.

A barn find classic car is always a good story, trying to work out how a car potentially worth a small fortune (or even a big one) could just disappear off the face of the earth only to reappear decades later, covered in cobwebs and worth an arm and a leg.

But this 1961 Jaguar E-Type – chassis #62 – isn’t a barn find but has, according to Silverstone Auctions, been lost in clear view ever since it was sold in 1961.

This E-Type has been lost in Scotland and only been sold privately over the years, so no one knew the rarity of the car beyond it being a 1961 E-Type.

In fact, chassis #62 is one of the first run of cars delivered to Jaguar dealers in 1961, designed to be demonstrators for the new E-Type, and shipped to Scotland by Henleys of London to show the well-heeled residents of Edinburgh just how appealing an E-Type was.

Sold off after doing it demonstrator duties, this flat-floor E-Type – which frankly is the worst E-Type to drive, but the rarest to own – went throughout five owners until it ended up in Moray in 2013, with the owner not aware he had a properly special E-Type on his hands.

Now clearly educated about what he actually has, the new owner has handed the E-Type to Silverstone Auctions to be sold at the Silverstone Classic at the end of the month, with an estimate of £140-170,000.

It will probably make more.