JAGUAR WILL SELL 10 LUCKY PEOPLE A BRAND NEW JAGUAR E-TYPE. WELL BASICALLY NEW...

The Jaguar E-Type is still regarded by many as the prettiest car ever made. And despite going out of production in 1975, you can now buy a pretty much new one directly from Jaguar.

The company’s Classic division is to source and meticulously restore 10 examples of the sports car to 1960s factory specifications, using Jaguar Heritage Trust’s build records and original drawings.

The first car finished through what’s being dubbed the ‘E-Type Reborn’ programme is the 4.2-litre, 1965 Series 1 Fixed Head Coupe you see here. It was exported to California from new, clocking 78,000 before going into storage in 1983. It eventually made its way back to the UK, before being completely reworked by Jaguar Classic.

This does - of course - all come at quite a cost. You’re looking at a starting price of £285,000 “dependent on specification”, and that’s before you sample anything from Jaguar Classic’s menu of “sympathetic upgrades”. These include an improved cooling system using Lightweight E-Type bits, an all-synchromesh gearbox, and Series 2 front brakes.

It’s not the first time JLR has embarked upon such a project, with ‘Reborn’ efforts previously launched for the Series I Land Rover and first-generation Range Rover ‘Classic’.

The first car from the E-Type Reborn programme will make its public debut at the ‘Techno-Classica’ event at Essen in April.