Lot 132: Jaguar E-Type S3 Roadster LHD

By 1971 US emission laws were strangling the Jaguar XK engine and making the E-Type uncompetitive against its rivals. While the XK 4.2 unit went on to power Jaguar saloons for another 16 years, it was no longer suitable for a sports car but another engine, also destined for the XJ Saloon would do the job very nicely. This was the new 5.3 litre, all alloy V12 engine.The Series 3 E-Type bore little resemblance to the car launched at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show. Longer, wider and heavier, the S3 was an E-Type on steroids. A wider track and beefier tyres required flared arches. The bigger V12 required a redesign of the front frame and the nature of the car demanded a softer ride. Performance figures were not that dissimilar to the 1961 3.8 but the power delivery was turbine-like and torque was massive. The E-Type was back on top.he example offered here is equipped with the desirable manual transmission and is described as being in, predominately, original condition. The motor car is believed to have covered a mere 33000 miles from new and has history to support this statement. The car was in the same Florida ownership for many years and there are service and maintenance bills dating back over 20 years, which demonstrate that the car had covered just 25, 000 miles in the mid 1980's and just 32000 miles in 2004. < BR>The car is offered complete with a Heritage Certificate, original owners manual, in the original Jaguar wallet, the aforementioned history and a VT30 MoT failure certificate showing that there are no major faults preventing the car gaining an MoT. The faults listed are mainly lights and adjustments.