Not just the best known E-type, but the best known Jaguar in the world!
This year sees the 50th anniversary of the iconic E-type Jaguar, and the world's oldest model will be at the Gloucestershire Motor Show. It was the car that first broke the 150 mph barrrier and set the scene for many famous appearances. It really is an opportunity not to be missed...
9600 HP is quite simply the oldest E-type in existence. It was the car that created the 150 mph legend. It was, successively, the development car, the launch car and the press car. It had several well-known owners before being acquired by Porter in 1977. Having sat in his old barn for many years, in 1999/2000, it became the subject of an absolutely incredible restoration by leading E-type specialists, Classic Motor Cars (CMC) in Shropshire, England.
CMC took the conservation approach with 9600 HP. Because every bit of the car was so steeped in history and legend, it was crucial to retain not only the character but also the integrity. The CMC craftsmen devoted around 3000 hours to repairing and retaining every single part of the car wherever possible.
9600 HP was finished by CMC in time to recreate the original mad dash from Coventry to Geneva to launch the car to the world's press in 1961. Some 40 years later, 9600 HP took the same route that Jaguar PR chief Bob Berry and fifties racer had taken all those years before when he had arrived, after the most exciting journey of his life, with just 20 minutes to spare.
In 2001, Orion Publishing published the story of the car, entitled The Most Famous Car in the World, written by Philip. This acclaimed book later became available in paperback as well.
THE ITALIAN JOB E-TYPE
Everyone remembers the car going over the mountainside in the 1960s cult film starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward and Benny Hill, but no-one remembers which car it was. Actually, it was a Lancia, mocked up to look like an Aston Martin, but the first car the mafia attacked on the mountainside was 848 CRY, a red E-type roadster in which Benny Hill was driving. Rewinding back to 1961, the year the E-type was launched, this red roadster was actually the 12th open E-type to be produced. It was supplied as a demonstrator to Leicestershire dealer and gentleman racer, Robin Sturgess. He proceeded to race the car (then with the registration 2 BBC) very successfully.
During 1961 Robin Sturgess became the first person to compete with an E-type at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, the oldest venue of motor sport in the world to still use its original track. In the crowd was a 10-year-old boy called Philip Porter. It was the first E-type he saw.
In 1977, Porter acquired this car, which Sturgess had re-registered 848 CRY, together with 9600 HP. It cost him a small matter of £800! Later, when chatting with Sturgess on the phone, Robin mentioned that he had just seen the film on television and thought that he recognised the registration as the one he had sold the car with in 1962. Until then Philip had no idea he owned the Italian Job E-type!
The Italian Job car was rebuilt to a very high standard by Andrew Tart, later one of the founders of CMC, in 1990. It has since been very extensively featured in the BBC's Top Gear and The Car's The Star, and in many magazines.
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