JD Classics

Breakfast at JD's showcases famous Lightweight E-Type

18th July 2010

The next Breakfast at JD's is coming soon, with one of the most exciting finds of the 20th century on show. Until 1998, one of only 12 Lightweight E-Types ever built was nowhere to be seen. This highly-collectable limited edition was discovered languishing in a Californian garage under a large pile of barely intact cardboard boxes. Given its obvious pedigree, #3 off the production line was brought out of hibernation and restored – after lying hidden for over 35 years.

As you can see from this picture, it was found in fantastic condition despite its age. Sure, it only had 2663 miles on the clock, but its age and imperfect storage still warranted far worse decay.

It's been speculated that Jaguar originally intended to build 18 limited edition Lightweights instead of the dozen they produced. This particular incarnation raced at California's famous Laguna Seca Raceway (as well as Florida's Sebring Raceway) back in 1963. So it's intriguing that it was found close by to one of its most auspicious public appearances.

Having been restored to its former glory, see what this extremely rare two-seater now looks like for yourself at our next Breakfast at JD's and find out more about its amazing story.

As ever, several of our 30-strong JD Classics staff and technicians will be available to show you around our purpose-built premises on the day and field your queries. As we’ve restored, owned and prepared a good number of E-Types for historic racing, come ready with your questions on the engineering behind one of Britain’s most celebrated marques and we’ll do our best to answer them for you.

Given the early start, you’ll be able to take advantage of the outside catering team who’ll supply a steady stream of bacon sarnies and more besides.

So if you want to catch an extremely rare glimpse of an original Lightweight E-Type in the flesh and wander behind the scenes at our comprehensive facilities here in Maldon, make sure you’re here bright and early. Gates open at 8.30am and the morning concludes as close to 11.30am as we can get without appearing rude…