Jaguar's iconic E-Type is turning 50 this year – and the automaker is planning a yearlong birthday party to celebrate. Considered by many to be among the most beautiful cars ever built, the E-Type's gold anniversary will be marked by celebrations at major auto shows and events worldwide.
Early celebrations will come at the Geneva Motor Show in March, where the E-Type made its original world debut in 1961. Soon after, Jaguar will honor the E-Type at April's New York International Auto Show, site of the seminal sports car's 1961 stateside unveiling.
Jaguar plans to continue the E-Type's 50th birthday celebration at various worldwide automotive events, including England's Goodwood Revival and Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, Germany's Nurburgring Old Timer Grand Prix in August, and California's Monterey Historics and Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance, also in August.
"Half a century of progress has not diminished the significance of the E-Type," said Mike O'Driscoll, managing director of Jaguar Cars and chairman of Jaguar Heritage. "It was a sensation when it was launched, and remains Jaguar's most enduring and iconic symbol. The E-Type is simply one of the most exciting cars ever created and a legacy to the genius of Jaguar's founder, Sir William Lyons."
Launched in 1961, the E-Type – dubbed the XK-E in the United States – was available in coupe and convertible form. Praise over its stunning aesthetics was universal, and it was dubbed so beautiful that New York City's Museum of Modern Art added one to its collection, keeping it ever since.
"It is impossible to overstate the impact the E-Type had when it was unveiled in 1961," said Ian Callum, Jaguar's current design director. "Here was a car that encapsulated the spirit of the revolutionary era it came to symbolize. The E-Type is a design that even today continues to inform the work we do in styling the Jaguars of the future."
The E-Type was sold in several iterations before its 1975 replacement by the XJ-S. Today, the E-Type – which sold new in 1961 for around $5,700, or nearly $45,000 in today's dollars – can fetch anywhere from the low $30,000 range for a rough car to well above $100,000 for a pristine example.
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