Desirable early'Flat Floor' Roadster,just the 598th madeBuilt on the 25/09/1961 and dispatched to ArizonaMatching numbers engineRetains the early-production features includingwelded louvres, flat floors, and a number stamped bonnetA fabulous, very original and highly presentable Jaguar E-TypePart of a matching Roadster/Coupe pair of Cream 1961 E-TypesJust selected to be featured in the new, vastly expanded 'Original E-Type' book by Porter PressHere at Silverstone Auctions, we are delighted to offer an incredible pair of matching-number, time warp survivors of the earliest E-Types, cherished in a museum together for nearly 20 years. They are for sale separately and with the E-Type'sDiamond Jubilee next year, this is an appropriate time for these significantcars to become available. From a respected private collector, both these cars are, remarkably, being offered at No Reserve.In 1961, it was almost impossible to be able to actually obtain Jaguars Supercar, which was so closely related to their triple Le Mans-winning D-Type racer, but with legendary comfort and practicality, offering perhaps the ultimate road car.The E-Type itself needs no introduction and it is no secret that company founder and chairman, William Lyons, desired to add a supremely elegant coupe to the original roadster in development and their combined launch literally stunned the world, at Geneva back in March 1961.For both the enthusiast and the dedicated collector, the desire to obtain the 'first of the breed' in its most original condition will always be the 'Holy Grail'. The problem with actually achieving this goal is that those first E-Types were seriously flawed. The body structure was never built with any intention to make it last and indeed many were succumbing to rust issues when just a few years old. The majority of worldwide climatesdid not offer the kind ofconditions in which an E-Type might thriveand Jaguar themselves often cited that, with such a low purchase cost, " It was far better to simply buy the new and improved model than repairing an older model with rust issues". Consequently,there wasno real desire to preserve these first models, with their cramped flat floors and dangerously poor brakes for a car capable of nearly150 mph,which resulted in many cars suffering accident damage, some onmore than one occasion.In 1961, you genuinely had to be a name, and a name on a list to acquire one of these first delivery cars. As always, Jaguars primary market was the United States and this is where almost 90% of E-Type production ended up. Even there, to source an original, first-supply suffix chassis number roadster starting 875 is incredibly difficult to find in original condition if at all this confirming it to be a genuine 1961 built car,the ultimate vintage for any serious collector.Enter Paul Webb, a passionate collector who has specialised in dealing with E-Types since the early 1970's and recalls that in those days, he would far prefer to buy a later and more expensive Series 2, 4.2 model to sell than an early car. But Pauls passion is originality and many decades of wintering in California allowed the opportunity to bring back several amazingly rust-free cars from there. He was ideally placed and in the perfect hunting ground to try to find that Holy Grail a super early 1961 E-Type that retained every original panel fitted by Jaguar when delivered new, back in 1961.When collecting anything, having a matching pair is always an ideal position to strive to achieve and Paul continued to search California and neighbouring Arizona for the very best original E-Types. He could not believe his luckwhen, in the early 2000s, he found this 1961 Roadster finished in Cream with a Beige interior,the complete twin to his 1961 Coup. Manufactured on 25th September 1961 the first month an E-Type would be released to any public buyers in the UK, this car was supplied new to an R Condon in Phoenix, Arizona,as confirmed by the Jaguar Heritage build sheet, and was dispatched there on 12th October 1961. In common with his coup, this car too retained all its original features and panels and amazingly both this car and the coupe had received just one 'outside only'refresh of colour, sothe door shuts and engine bay still wore theirfactory-applied original paint and the bonnet still displayed itsoriginal factory stamps.Once Paul imported the roadster to join hiscoupin the UK in 2004, having registered it in California first, it was decided that the dehydrated seatsneeded attention and once again the services ofex-Jaguar factory trimmers, respected expertsSuffolk and Turley were called for. The car had previouslyreceived a new soft topand appears to have travelled just 74,414 miles from new.Our vendor first saw this matching pair back in 2004, when they were first together, but it took a further eight years before his repeated efforts to acquire them both, still as a pair, were finally rewarded with success.Thislovely Cream Roadsterwasrecently recommissioned to fully running and driving condition after decades of museum preservation, but the braking systemwill need some attention before returning to the roads and transporting oneself back to that late autumn of 1961 when this classic E-Type made such an impact in the US of Aand began its long life in the Arizonasunshine.This is an important Jaguar that's being offered at No Reserve. We welcome enquiries from seriously interested parties and arehappy to arrange appointments to view.Click here to view the car featured in this months issue of The E-Type1967 Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Series 1 Roadsterhttps://youtu.be/G_-VYxb1s54false