Classic Car Mart Magazine Vol.19 No. 12 The E-Type Dream Back Issue

So you’re nine years old, you’ve just been taken for a spin in not one but two V12 E-Type roadsters and then somebody introduces you to Norman Dewis, the legendary Jaguar test driver from the period which gave us the E-Type. It’s probably unsurprising that your first question to the man would be “Have you driven an E-Type at 150 mph?” But in a brilliant comeback, 93-year-old Norman’s response to my son’s questioning was to casually mention that yes, he has indeed piloted many an E-Type at 150, but it’s “when you get over 200 mph that things become really tricky.” It’s not often an inquisitive car-mad nine-year old is floored but Norman had him with that one. The occasion was the Goodwood Revival, an event which I haven’t attended for a number of years but which is a great day out not only for the atmosphere but also for the chance to get right up close to the racing cars in the paddock. The dressing up may be a bit of fun but they take the racing pretty seriously too which makes it a grand spectacle, topped off with an air display: just as we were boarding our 1949 bus at the end of the day, the world’s only airworthy English Electric Canberra flew overhead. Our quick spin in the two series 3 E-Types on the day also showed just how capable a nicely set-up example of the later car can be. As you’ll read in this month’s E-Type feature, there’s a massive price differential between the series 1 and series 3 cars yet the thrust of the mighty V12
isn’t to be sneezed at and they’re still every bit the E-Type experience. Rather more affordable but still every bit the thoroughbred British sports car are the TR7 and TVR 350i we drive in this month’s twin test.