Lot 043: 1972 JAGUAR E-TYPE V12 ROADSTER

By 1971, Jaguar's jaw-dropping E-Type had been in production for a decade. Despite continual improvements, new emissions legislation in the all-important American market threatened to strangle the big cat's performance. Jaguar responded by giving its revered sports car fresh claws in the shape of a 5343cc V12 developed from the stillborn XJ13 Le Mans project car. The new engine was both effortlessly powerful and eerily refined. "The turbine-like smoothness with which the engine provides a sustained shove in the back is almost uncanny, the more so when one accelerates hard in top gear without even a gearchange to interrupt one's headlong dash into the distance". (Autocar 5th July 1973) With some 272bhp and 304lbft of torque on tap, the Series III E-Type once again had 150mph in its sights. A revised wheelbase yielded better cabin space and together with wider tracks front and rear, new anti-dive front suspension geometry and fatter tyres gave improved road holding. Imbued with a more muscular stance thanks to its flared wheelarches, re-profiled wings and larger grille, it also benefited from vented disc brakes and a restyled interior. Finished in Old English White with contrasting black upholstery, this particular example is described by the vendor as being in "excellent" condition with regard to its engine, automatic transmission, interior trim, chassis, bodywork, paintwork and wheels / tyres (while, he rates the electrical equipment as "good"). A somewhat special car, chassis 1S51352BW is not only said to have had just "one registered owner from new" but also to have been the subject of an extensive 'ground up' restoration by XK Engineering Ltd that totalled "in the region of £60,000". Protected by a Carcoon as well as a garage, the Jaguar is understood to have covered a mere 3,000 miles in the ten years since work was completed. Riding on correct-type steel wheels, this "one owner" E-type V12 Roadster is offered for sale with MOT certificate valid until August 2008.