jaguar resurrects 'missing six' lightweight E-type's from 1963 with aluminum

jaguar resurrects ‘missing six’ lightweight E-type’s from 1963 with aluminum body
all images courtesy of jaguar land rover

jaguar has revealed ‘car zero’, the first prototype of its new lightweight E-type at the pebble beach concours d’elegance in california. six rebuilds of the original british sports car will be hand-crafted by skilled workers at jaguar heritage, part of jaguar land rover’s new special operations division. the contemporary two-door will be re-constructed using specifications originating from the last lightweight E-type produced in 1964 and will be built at the original home of the E-type, jaguar’s browns lane plant in coventry, england. the series of vehicles have been introduced as replacements for the ‘missing’ six vehicles from the ‘special GT E-type’ project in february 1963, of which only 12 of 18 were completed.

the core component of the lightweight E-type is its aluminum body. this material replaced the steel of the production E-type, specifically to shed weight – approximately 114 kilograms were saved compared with the original car. despite the enormous advances in technology since the early 1960s, the decision was taken not to incorporate modern materials or fixing methods. according to jaguar, ‘high-strength aluminum alloys and bonded structures would have been invisible, and they would not have been true to the original design.’

the lightweight E-types will be hand-built by skilled jaguar craftsmen in a new facility in the UK

advanced technology was utilized to ensure the highest quality and most accurate rendition of the lightweight E-type’s open two-seater body components. using state-of-the-art scanning technology, the inner and outer surfaces of a lightweight shell were digitally mapped. the resulting massively detailed scan, which recorded dimensions and shape down to a fraction of a millimeter.

the specification includes an aluminum body with doors, trunk-lid, hardtop and hood also in aluminum

the lightweight E-type is powered by a six-cylinder XK engine that mirrors the original power units, with an aluminum block, ‘wide angle’ aluminum cylinder head and dry sump lubrication to reduce the amount of weight over the front wheels. the monocoque body is built at whitley where it is paired to its tubular engine sub-frame, then shipped to jaguar’s gaydon facility for painting. from there it is then taken to jaguar heritage at browns lane where the car is built up with power-train, suspension, brakes, steering, electrical items, instrument panel and soft trim.