Jaguar E-Type Series II Roadster

“I want that car, and I want it now.”

THIS CAR

• Delivered new to its first owner, Mr A. G. Butler of Henley-on-Thames, in 1969 and given the registration VRX 186H – which it still wears today.
• Incredibly, the car was purchased by its second, and current, owner just 6 years later in September 1975, already showing just over 60,000 miles on the clock (Mr Butler clearly had some fun!).
• This car, then, has had just 2 owners from new, and has been in its current ownership for 48 years!
• As the extensive History File attests to, the car has received constant maintenance and servicing in the decades since.
• For the past 15 years, the car has been looked after almost exclusively by Wren Classics of Shaftesbury – well known road & race specialists – who have done a spectacular job of making sure the car has stayed in fantastic shape.
• In 2012, less than 6,000 miles ago, Wren Classics were commissioned to carry out a full and comprehensive mechanical overhaul of the car, which included a complete top-to-bottom engine rebuild by Sigma Engineering.
• Other notable items include a new PVC hood in 2013 and a front-end respray in 2021.

What we think

• We collected the car from its home near Salisbury and drove it back to our showroom in Bicester – it was faultless and sublime.
• There are those cars that have been ‘nut-and-bolt’ restored and present as essentially brand new vehicles, and that’s brilliant don’t get me wrong. But then there are the cars that, rather than being brought back to ‘like-new’ condition, have instead been constantly maintained and cared for, and therefore just ooze character and charm. This is one of those cars. We challenge anyone to position themselves in the drivers seat, grab hold of the thin original wooden steering wheel – beautifully dull and worn smooth – and not fall in love.
• How many opportunities do you get to be just the third owner of a home-market RHD E-Type Roadster with continuous history and provenance? Not many I should think…