1968 Jaguar E-Type

The E-type (XKE in the U.S.) has enjoyed rock star status long enough to make Mick and Keith envious. Even Jaguar can’t seem to move on from this icon, first paying tribute to it with its modern F-Type and more recently announcing that it was going to be rebuilding and selling original “Reborn” E-type coupes and roadsters at home in Coventry.The E-type made its debut amid much fanfare at the Geneva, Switzerland, auto show in March 1961, and immediately became a media darling. There was plenty of talk about what was beneath the skin, but it was that voluptuously shaped sheetmetal, designed by aerodynamic expert Michael Sayer (who cut his teeth in Britain’s aircraft industry during World War II) that stopped onlookers in their tracks. As pretty as it was, the E-type’s body was also designed to be lightweight and strong. For this, the E-type relied on advanced monocoque construction, with a bolted-on front subframe fabricated from box tubing. The car’s massive sills were tied together by intricately constructed bulkheads, front and rear, as well as by lateral and longitudinal floor members and the floor pans themselves. The front subframe–built out of triangulated members like a race car’s tube chassis and bolted to the body at eight points–supported the E-type’s independent torsion bar front suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, engine, and radiator, and served as the foundation for the forward-hinged hood and front fenders.