E-Type UK frees 4.2 E-Type Fixed Head Coupe from shrubbery

People will abandon cars anywhere. The backyard, the barn, the beach… and the forest, apparently. 

E-Type UK broke out the clippers when it found two Series 1 E-Types in the lush greenery of the Gloucestershire forest. The two cars had nested, forgotten, since the 1980s; one of them now rests in nut-and-bolt restored glory in Opalescent Silver Grey. 

E-Type UK chopped a numbers-matching 4.2 coupe from the overgrowth to discover that the chassis and both front and rear suspension remained intact, but the body was entirely useless.

Saved the trouble of inspecting the body since… well, there wasn’t one worth inspecting. E-Type UK sourced and fitted panels to resurrect the familiar Jaguar shape according to the period-correct plan. Doors were hung, panels perched on a jig, and inner wheel arches analyzed. 

Roof panels got matched to the body shell, and only after painstaking measurements did anyone think about breaking out the welder. 

After the E-Type spent almost 30 years communing with nature, the engine had lost contact with its original destiny. E-Type UK could redeem only the cylinder head and cam covers. With some machine polishing and serious attention to detail, the cam covers gleamed again. Once all the missing parts were sourced, progress was measured in finely-tuned increments during the 4.2 engine rebuild before the straight-six barked to life. 

All the biodegradable bits came next. Factory-correct black leather draped the interior, new rubber was fitted to the wire-spoked wheels, and shiny strips of chrome twinkled in all the right places. 

From the sand to the street and from the dirt to the asphalt, unearthed treasures like this represent so many hours of love and labor: the original designers, the first builders, and finally restorers resurrecting the product decades later. We’re glad to see restorers so skilled in what they do pouring their passion into another obscurely-hidden automotive legend.