Jaguar E-Type S2 4.2 2+2 Coupe

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 The number of E-Type Jaguars that have covered fewer than 2,000 miles from new and that have spent more time being restored than being driven can probably be counted on the thumbs of one hand. This is that car.

KAR 66G is a 1969 4.2 2+2 fixed head coupé that was supplied by Blizzard Motors, of Chorley Wood, to its first owner, Peter Ashcroft. Mr Ashcroft is no longer with us but is fondly remembered as being – how shall we put this? – “deeply individual” in character. Which goes some way, but not all the way, to explaining the ultra-low mileage of the car. In fact, the total mileage to date is 1,733 and that includes the drive to the MOT station when it was last tested!

Mr Ashcroft kept the car on the road – so to speak – until 1977 before storing it for the following 24 years. Then, in 2001, he gave the car to marque specialist Alan Collins, of Maldon, Surrey, to be refurbished. The car was not finished until 2009, not because of the extent of the work it required or because of the rate at which it was done, but because Mr Ashcroft indulged in that practice which all professional restorers find both inducing and endearing: Erratic Payments.

Despite having to deal with Mr Ashcroft, his mercurial temperament and his laissez faire approach to bills, Alan Collins did a fabulous job, as can seen in the photographs and in the flesh, with the car still looking great nine years (and five miles - five miles!) later.

The full extent of the work carried out on KAR 66G is not clear, but there is a hand-written summary which indicates that the final bill was over £26,000. The summary is on file, along with a Heritage Certificate authenticating the car, various bills, and the last MOT (2009).

Jaguar produced a little over 1,000 Series 2 2+2 4.2 Coupés in right-hand drive form and we would assume that the majority of them were used for the purpose for which they were intended (well, you’d be mad to buy a car like this and not use it). Why Mr Ashworth did not drive his car more than he did may never be explained, but the car exists as a memorial to one man’s idiosyncrasy. It also exists as – possibly – the lowest mileage E-Type around.