Not Bad Luck: ’66 Jaguar XK E Series I OTS
If this black cat crossed your path it would not be bad luck. We all know what a Jaguar XKE is all about. At introduction in ’61 it was called, by almost everyone, a design tour de force. Even Enzo Ferrari loved it. We’ll maybe not loved. But what does OTS mean. Jeopardy question – It is used to describe E-Type Convertibles. Answer – What is Open Two Seater. The early E-Types were of course, gorgeous, but they had some quirks – like a gearbox from the stone age. They used an off-the-shelf Moss box with a non-synchro 1st gear.
Our Morgan Plus 4 had a similar gearbox and it is, let’s say, vintage in feel. Later cars, like this listing, had a slightly larger engine at 4.2 litres, better cooling, more comfortable seats and a 4-speed all synchromesh transmission. They still retained all of the styling cues of the original so this is the one to get if you want to use your E-Type for more than a notch on your belt. And boy do we like this black car. It has only 1 previous owner and all of the books and tools are present. A good thing because those are scarce and expensive. It was restored 13 years ago and used sparingly but what’s nice is a bit of patina has set in.
That softens it a little and we like that. The seller has recently rebuilt the carbs and fuel pump so some sorting has already been done. This could be a “get in and drive it” story but somehow that never seems to come true. There’s a link to a video (A+ for effort) so go to the eBay auction by clicking here.