Jaguar E-Type S3 V12 Coupe Manual

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Launched in 1971, the Series 3 V12 was the last and most luxurious of the E-Type range with a wider track, longer wheelbase, bigger tyres, revised suspension and a more spacious cockpit.

Better proportioned than the earlier 2+2 E-Types, it had a beautifully muscular form and was easily a match for anything that the Italians had to offer and is still surprisingly undervalued by comparison, even more so when compared to its generally far more pricey six-cylinder siblings.

Weighing just a few pounds more than the smaller XK 4.2 engine it replaced, the alloy blocked 5.3-litre V12 produced only slightly more power (272 instead of 265bhp) but vastly more torque (349 instead of 283lb/ft). This results in a quite different driving experience: gone is the XK snarl, replaced by quiet thunder and a sense of huge momentum in place of raw acceleration – although in fact the 0-100mph time of around 16 seconds made it the fastest-accelerating E-Type ever: in manual form, the 0 - 60mph benchmark is dispatched in just 6.3 seconds and 145mph is only a squeeze of the right foot away.

As the original purchase invoice confirms, this Regency Red V12 manual was bought new in September 1973 by a Dr William B Spencer of Louisiana from Continental Cars, Little Rock, Arkansas for $41,850 including taxes. He was to keep the car for four years and used it regularly, clocking up 44,000 miles before selling it to a Mr Isaacs in 1977 for $6,500. Isaacs was to keep the car for the next 14 years but only covered some 7,000 miles before selling it to a dealer in late 1991 who shortly afterwards exported it back to the UK, now with some 51,000 miles on the clock.

The dealer kept the car for only a short time before selling it to the current registered keeper in October 1992. He kept it for 15 years and used it very sparingly, selling it to the vendor in 2007 at which point it had still only racked up 52,600 miles. The vendor’s plan was to convert it to RHD and quickly sell it on. But after looking at the car in detail, he was astonished to find that beneath the faded paintwork was the most sound and original E-Type he had ever seen.

Unwilling to tamper with such a wonderfully preserved machine, he decided to do the lightest restoration possible which consisted of a full respray in the original Regency Red, replacing all the perished rubbers, and lightly connollising the Cinnamon leather trim. To preserve the period looks, he insisted on Lechler MAC 5 cellulose for the respray, a far more laborious process but one that results in a deep and lustrous finish that is much more pleasing and authentic than the superficial ‘boiled sweet’ look that two-pack gives.

Once the work was completed in 2008, the car was put into storage as part of a collection of fine cars and motorcycles that the vendor has amassed over the past 20-odd years. Recently recommissioned for sale, the car flew through its MOT in August this year (with no advisories recorded) and is said to drive beautifully with excellent oil pressure and no overheating issues. It is fitted with excellent chrome wire wheels shod with Michelin XWX tyres all round with 8mm of tread and also benefits from Koni shock absorbers at the front.

The vendor states that the car has never been welded or patched and shows no signs of any previous restoration other than the driver’s seat perhaps being recovered at some time. It retains its original driver’s door mirror and radio aerial and there is even a circular hand-written label inside the instrument panel stating that the car was built to US spec with air conditioning on 27/2/73.

Supplied with a good history file from new (including various handbooks) and effectively just four owners to date (excluding the dealer), this is a remarkably well-preserved, low mileage, matching numbers E-Type that would make a fine addition to any collection.