This British classic went from rags to riches, but it took a lot of work and time.
A lot of us have been there: we have a beloved car that breaks big time. We try fixing it, unsuccessfully, maybe run out of funds, have trouble getting the right parts, get busy, and so forth. Before you know it, the car’s been sitting since 1979, literally in a barn. That’s the story with this 1964 Jaguar E-Type barn find rescued in the UK. After a full restoration, this British coupe is worth an estimated $250,000, turning plenty of heads.
That might seem like a steep price for a Jaguar E-Type, considering you can have you pick of many excellent examples for far less. One of the big drivers for the value is the car has the steering wheel on the right, not the left. Many people don’t realize Americans had a huge appetite for the E-Type, so much that the vast majority made were left-hand-drive models shipped across the Atlantic. To find a right-hand-drive model is a rarity.
Also driving that huge market value is that the restoration company hired to do the work, E-Type UK, realized the car still has its factory-original chassis, engine, and transmission. That’s right, it’s a numbers-matching right-hand-drive vehicle, which is why the value has soared so high.
On top of that, being a 1964 this is a series 1 car, but it was in pretty bad shape when it arrived at the restoration shop. The shop owner offered to pay $62,000 for the car, an offer which was accepted.
After 18 months of hard work, the Jaguar had been restored. It wears a drop-dead gorgeous Opalescent Silver Blue paint, the factory color. An Oxblood Red leather interior features the factory switchgear and gauges. The shop added a few modern upgrades which would appeal to many buyers, like an aluminum radiator and header tank. All that work payed off, literally, because the car sold and is currently enjoyed by an enthusiast who also owns a convertible E-Type.
Famously, Enzo Ferrari enthusiastically called the Jaguar E-Type“the most beautiful car ever made” when he first saw it. Many have agreed with his assessment, making them among of the more sought-after classics out there today.
Source: Fox News
Images credit: Fox News
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