Westover Jaguar Reunites Original E-Type with Owner
1 February 2012
Half a century after the launch of the Jaguar E-Type, one of the first of these iconic cars to come off the production line was reunited with its original owner, with the help of Westover Jaguar.
The 50th anniversary was marked at the Gold Cup event at Oulton Park in Cheshire - the North West's premier historic motorsport event. This included a parade of E-types from Manchester Airport to and around the circuit, together with the final two rounds of the HSCC E-type Challenge race series.
Westover Director, Paul Collins is one of just a handful of people in the current Jaguar network who was selling the E-Types in the late sixties and seventies and was asked to help bring together some of the first owners with their cars. He said: “I managed to track down Marcus Girvan who was just 21 at the time. He had won one of the very first E-Types after entering a competition organised by the Daily Mail on 16 March 1961 - the day after Jaguar introduced the E-Type to the world in Geneva.
“The response to the competition was huge. Literally overnight, the E-Type had become the most wanted car in the world, so Marcus, who is from Southport in Lancashire, was greatly envied.”
A Surveyors Article Clerk whose only income was a £1 per week allowance from his father, Marcus was delighted with his prize. His father promised at once to pay the running costs with pleasure as long as his son let him drive the car occasionally. This arrangement lasted for just over a year when the car was sold. It had two further owners before being taken to South Africa where it stayed for nearly 20 years. It finally returned to the UK in early 1998.
The car has now undergone a complete nut and bolt restoration by its present owner, John Butterworth, and is valued at around £250,000. It would have originally sold for around £1,480 plus tax. Marcus was over the moon to meet up with John and to see that his old car was in the hands of a real enthusiast. “It was an emotional moment for all of us,” said Paul.
The E-Type was manufactured in Britain by Jaguar between 1961 and 1975. Its combination of good looks, high performance, and competitive pricing established the marque as an icon of 1960’s motoring. More than 70,000 E-Types were sold during its lifespan.
In March 2008, the Jaguar E-Type ranked first in the Daily Telegraph's list of the "100 most beautiful cars" of all time. In 2004, Sports Car International magazine placed the E-Type at number one on their list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s.
Westover Jaguar, located on the prestigious West Quay Road in Poole, is currently selling the full Jaguar model line-up. This includes the XJ, XK, XF and Jaguar R. The all new Jaguar CX16 is coming soon to the dealership.
Please call into the showroom on West Quay Road in Poole or call 0800 999 2366 for more information on the range of cars available. Alternatively, just visit www.westovergroup.co.uk and click on the Jaguar icon.
