A 1961 Jaguar E-Type that the seller claims is the first E-Type hardtop in production with the steering wheel at the right-hand side will cross the auction block on September 1 estimated between £1,000,000–1,400,000 (U.S. $1,260,000–1,770,000) due to being one of the British marque’s most iconic historical cars still surviving to this day.
It is believed that Jaguar’s first E-Type roadster and left-hand-drive coupe produced did not survive until the present time. Aside from its legendary status, the car on sale belongs to an early production batch of just four RHD E-Types with exposed hood latches and metallic window blinds. It has a chassis number 860001 and is considered a true collector’s item.
Produced on July 10, 1961, the droptop rolled off the assembly line with a body finished in dark blue and an interior draped in red leather. Its 3.8-liter inline six-cylinder engine comes equipped with three carburetors and is supposed to pump out 265 PS to a four-speed manual transmission.
The title lists several owners. The current owner and seller is a widely known exotic car collector who had been holding on to it for more than a quarter of a century. He also paid to have the coupe restored to peak OEM condition, which included respraying it in its original color and giving it the license plate ‘1VHP’, which corresponds to the first number plate it received when it was made street-legal several decades ago.