One to Buy: ex-Briggs Cunningham 1963 Jaguar E-type 3.8 Lightweight
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Although Jaguar had supplied a handful of competition-prepared ‘ZP’ E-types to special customers for 1961, a more comprehensively uprated Lightweight version was developed for 1963 in order to counter the threat from Ferrari’s rule-bending 250 GTO.
A dozen of the new cars were built by Jaguar. They came with lightened aluminium bodies, an aluminium hardtop, uprated suspension and a fuel-injected, dry-sumped aluminium block 3.8-litre 300bhp straight six engine with triple Weber carburettors. Close-ratio four speed Moss and five-speed ZF gearboxes were variously used.
Thanks to their exploits during the 1963 season where they frequently outperformed Ferrari’s 250 GTO on British soil, the Lightweight E-types have come to be regarded as the ultimate iteration of a true automotive icon.
Today, one of these sensational machines is currently on offer at the William I’Anson showroom in Gloucestershire: chassis S850664.
The second of three Lightweight E-types originally delivered to noted American sportsman, Briggs Cunningham, chassis S850664 was UK registered 5114 WK and made its competition debut at the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours where it failed to finish owing to gerabox failure.
After its outing at la Sarthe, S850664 returned to Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory at which point the Le Mans hood was replaced and a five-speed ZF gearbox installed. The car was then exported to the US where it scored an eleventh overall and third in class at the Road America 500 mile United States Road Racing Championship event. This was followed by fourth overall and fourth in class at the Bridgehampton 500km, a round of the 1963 World Sportscar Championship.
S850664 was subsequently retired from competition duty and delivered to Briggs Cunningham’s renowned motor museum in Costa Mesa, California. Since then it has resided in some of the world’s most highly regarded collections.
