At $59,650, Is This 1970 Jaguar XKE A Beautiful Bargain?
With its open headlamps and bigger tail lights, today’s Nice Price or No Dice XKE isn’t quite the car that Enzo Ferrari once called the most beautiful in the world, but it’s still painfully handsome. Let’s see what such beauty might cost.
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When I was a kid, the looming Independence Day holiday would be announced by the arrival, seemingly overnight and all at once, of long, narrow stands dotting grocery store parking lots, set up to sell fireworks that were touted as being “safe and sane.” I don’t know who came up with that weird term “safe and sane,” but it springs to mind as I believe it also to be a particularly apt descriptor of the 2000 Toyota Camry LE V6 we considered yesterday. That manual-equipped car felt like it might actually be kind of fun to own and drive, but being a Toyota Camry wouldn’t get you into much trouble. Such a “safe and sane” attitude seemingly also extended to the Camry’s $7,000 price tag. That won the car a solid 76 percent Nice Price win. The only thing missing was a big fireworks finale.
When you think of Jaguar, do you picture it predominantly as a maker of sporty saloons or as a builder of mostly straight-up sports cars? Considering the company’s latest product line makeup, one might actually think neither to be the case. Back in the day, however, Jag was known for both its sleek, svelte sports cars as well as its four-door saloons. The latter were almost equal in their adeptness to the company’s sports cars, so much so that the Mark II model became beloved by the bank robber crowd as the getaway car of choice.
Today’s 1970 Jaguar XKE 4.2 represents what is arguably the immediate post-pinnacle of the British car builder’s sports car accomplishments. Introduced in 1961 at the Geneva Motor Show, where Enzo Ferrari supposedly praised its styling, calling it “the most beautiful car in the world,” the XKE (or E-Type to you Brits) took the knowledge Jag gained from campaigning the previous C- and D-Type racers and applied that to a tour de force road-going car. Initially offered in two-seat open-top and side-hatch coupe form, the XKE model line would later be expanded to include a rather ungainly-looking long-wheelbase 2+2 edition. Truthfully, the less said about that version, the better.
In general, the car is built around a semi-monocoque architecture, with early models powered by a 3.8-liter DOHC straight six. Later cars would get a displacement bump to 4.2 liters and, by the ’70s, would be joined in the cat corral by a V12 edition.
Basic model iterations are split into three segments: the 1961 through 1967 Series 1, ’68 to ’71 Series 2, and ’72 through ’74 Series 3. The most coveted of these are the first series of cars, as they offer the purest experience.
Our clean-title car is a Series 2, as evidenced most obviously by its exposed headlamps, larger catfish mouth grille, and under-the-bumper tail lamps. As a post ’67 American model, this car also features side marker lights detracting from its lines and has rocker switches instead of toggles on the dash. None of that can totally detract from the XKE’s inherent good looks, though.
This is also a car of the ’70s, made obvious by the Sable Brown paint and camel-colored canvas top combo it wears. I think something like 80 percent of all Jags built in the 1970s must have left the factory in this warm and wonderful Sable paint.
Under the forward-tilting clamshell hood sits a 4.2-liter DOHC straight six. We don’t get to see that, but owing to its model year, that should be employing a pair of Zenith Stromberg 175CD side-draught carbs and making a reported 246 (gross) horsepower and 263 (again gross) lb-ft of torque. That’s sent through a four-speed Moss manual gearbox to the independently sprung rear end. Disc brakes are fitted all around with the rears inboard, next to the diff.
According to the ad, the car comes with 82,719 miles on the clock and still “runs and drives extremely smoothly.” Further, the seller claims it “builds good power and pulls through the gears nicely” and says, “there is absolutely zero vibration at any speed.”
It all looks to be in decent shape, too, at least from what we can see in the pictures. We don’t get a good look at the interior, nor at what the top looks like when up. We do see that the dash cover is detaching, but other than that, there doesn’t seem to be anything obviously wrong with the car. The mystery is made all the more by this bit in the ad:
As with almost any XKE at this price there are a few things to fix here and there but the car is definitely priced accordingly and our mechanic has offered to do any repairs or upgrades for the new owner at 10 percent below shop rate.
Huh? What could be so wrong with this smoothly-driving and strong-pulling car to require enough work that a discount on the hours would be warranted? At least the seller acknowledges the issues—even if they won’t go into detail about them—by noting that the asking price has been set accordingly.
That price is $59,650, and if you follow XKE convertible prices at all, that should pique your curiosity. In excellent shape, an early OTS XKE is easily a six-figure car. Later models command less but still can hit high five figures without breaking a sweat. This one is at the bottom end of the “running and driving and not looking like a fright pig” end of the spectrum. Does that make it a good deal?
What do you think? Is this XKE likely worth that $59,650 asking as it’s presented in its ad? Or does that price put you off petting this cat?
You decide!
Austin, Texas, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Edward T. for the hookup!
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