Jaguar is finally building the lightweight E-Type that should have always been

Tell someone that the original Jaguar E-Type is one of the most beautiful cars ever made and just about the only argument you’ll get is from people who insist that it is the most beautiful car ever made. Period.

Thing is, there was supposed to be a lighter, sportier version of Jaguar’s iconic two-seater. The British company originally intended to build 18, but ended up only making 12 prototypes.

Well, now it’s finally ready to make the final six. Although Jaguar has hardly kept its intentions for the new E-Type a secret, it is nice to be able to confirm that they actually will be built.

According to Jaguar, each of the six cars will be built to a specification originated from the last Lightweight E-type produced in 1964 and will be hand-crafted at the original home of the E-type, Jaguar’s Browns Lane plant in Coventry, England.

The engineers who worked on the project were chosen from around the company, with one calculating that his family — including his grandparents, his father and his uncle — had a collective 170 years’ service at Jaguar stretching back to the early 1960s.

Want to get your hands on one of these incredible machines? That’s highly unlikely. Jaguar says the cars will be sold as period competition vehicles and all will be suitable for FIA homologation for historic motorsport purposes.

Expect them to land in the exclusive collections of people who specialise in that kind of thing then.

A prototype Lightweight — ‘Car Zero’ — has been completed and, on 14 August, will be revealed at the opening reception to the Pebble Beach Automotive weekend, the world’s most prestigious classic car event.

If you happen to be able to get there, or to any other event where these very special cars make an appearance, we would suggest you do so because chances are you’ll be in the presence of automotive greatness.