The 50th anniversary year of Jaguar's iconic E-Type has begun in London with the unveiling of a beautifully restored 1961 Series 1 3.8-litre model at London's Design Museum by test driver Norman Dewis, who this year celebrates his 91st birthday, and John Surtees, only man to win World championships on two wheels and four.
Peter Neumark, whose company restored 77 RW, one of the 1961 media cars, to better-than-new condition, said: “The car has become a design classic so we thought it would be fitting if the first celebration of its anniversary was held at the Design Museum.”
He added: “It would have been impossible to celebrate this famous car without inviting Norman Dewis, its legendary test driver, and Formula One legend John Surtees, who was one of the E-Type's first customers.”
Dewis was Jaguar's chief test driver at the time; he recalled being on a test run in this car and getting a call asking him to “drop everything” and drive it from Coventry to the Geneva auto show to be used as a press car.
“Coventry to Dover took me two hours,” he grinned, “and I completed the run to Geneva in just 11 hours. I averaged 109km/h - it was quite a drive.
“The E-Type took the motoring world by storm; it was great to be its test driver at the time and it's just as special to be here today celebrating its 50th birthday.”
Surtees, who travelled to the Jaguar factory at Brown's lane in Coventry to pick up his car, recalled: “Up until 1961 people had associated motoring beauty with either Italy or Germany but here was a beautiful car which had been designed and made in England.
“And it had the Jekyll and Hyde personality that every good sports car must have, docile one moment and fierce the next.”
The E-Type was manufactured by Jaguar from 1961 to 1974, and was lauded by no less a connoisseur than Enzo Ferrari as “the world's most beautiful car”. Still considered by many experts to be one of the most beautiful cars of all time, it became an icon of 1960's motoring with its revolutionary design and combination of elegance, performance and competitive price.