Despite celebrating their 60th anniversary in 2021, E-types across the spectrum have failed to generate the sort of buying spree often associated with a significant birthday.
Six of our 40 biggest Price Guide Movers On The Slide this month are E-types, with falls ranging from 2.4% for the 3.8 roadster (Series 1), or Open Two Seater in Jaguar speak, to 3.6% and 6.3% for the 3.8 Fixed Head Coupé (Series 1) in 1962-1964 , and 1961-1962 guises respectively.
Other fallers include both open and closed versions of the 4.2 Series 1 cars, down 3.0% and 2.9% respectively, and the Series 1.5 and Series 2 2+2 seater models, down 5%.
For now the Series 1 4.2 2+2 and Series 3 (V12) roadster and 2+2 coupé (there was no Series 3 two-seater coupé) have been spared. See our E-type model guide here.
The falls are vaguely in line with many other classics in the £35k+ category but when the first E-types hit 50 years old back in 2011, the furore drove prices up spectacularly, with most models doubling or even trebling in value. With countless celebratory events to look forward to in 2011 – re-runs of the historic dash from Coventry to Geneva, all-E-type races at Silverstone and Goodwood etc, special classes at concours, you name it – people previously immune to the E-type's iconic status and slinky looks suddenly started taking the cars more seriously. £100k+ restorations were commissioned up and down the country, the earliest models with flat floors, 1961 production or particularly outside bonnet catches, became the thing to have. The E-type was always cool; now, just like when it was launched in 1961, it was hot, hot, hot.
But that 50th anniversary didn't land in the thick of a global pandemic which might have failed to supress classic car buying, but has made most events impossible or at best very difficult to deliver at scale.
Instead, 2021 looks like it will give lots of new buyers who thought the E-type had sailed forever beyond their horizons the chance to own one. And this time, a much greater proportion fo the cars available will have been treated to thorough restorations. And we're hopeful that enough events will be able to take place later in the year so that owners new and old can make the most of their cars.
Price Guide Movers On The Up is part of 30 pages of market tips, analysis and buying advice in the latest issue ofClassic Cars