Vehicle Description
1963 Series 1 Jaguar XKE Roadster - Same Owner since 1987 - 3.8L 6
Cylinder - 6,500 miles since restoration (Please note: If you
happen to be viewing this 1963 Series 1 Jaguar XKE Roadster on a
website other than our Garage Kept Motors site, it's possible that
you've only seen some of our many photographs of this vehicle due
to website limitations. To be sure you access all the more than 150
photographs, please go to our main website: GarageKeptMotors.) �
'... the shape that launched a thousand dreams �€" Peter Egan, Road
& Track, 3/25/16 � In the memorable work of automotive journalism
referenced above, Peter Egan captured the essence of the Series 1
Jaguar XKE. Reporting on his retrospective driving review of two
Series 1 Jaguar XKEs--including the first of its type originally
displayed at the April 1, 1961 New York Automobile Show launch-Egan
waxed eloquent, as is his way. An admitted Jaguar aficionado, he
fairly evaluated the XKE as the benchmark it is in the entire
history of the automobile. (That he managed to pen his lengthy
review without mentioning Enzo Ferrari's description of the model
as the most beautiful automobile ever says something about Egan's
penchant for original writing.) Here's more of his elegant prose in
the 2016 Road & Track article (we'd encourage you to search out the
full text of the original article online): � It had a tail�end like
a wasp, with two chromed exhaust stingers sneaking up the
underside; a steering wheel and instruments out of a Mike Hawthorn
racing photo; wraparound bumpers that looked like half-retracted
safety razors; delicate forged upper and lower A-arms that appeared
incapable of holding the weight of the chassis, let alone the long,
dense, XK engine with its polished cam covers and neat trio of
2-in. SU carburetors, which breathed through a back swept silver
plenum atop an air cleaner the size of a Sears shop-vac. And then
there were front torsion bars instead of springs, black-porcelained
exhaust headers, wire wheels, knockoffs, glass-covered headlights.
The car seemed to have a hundred individual parts you'd gladly
display in a trophy case; it was a virtual mother lode of future
paperweights, conversation pieces, heraldic wall hangings and
Druidic totems, all compacted into a single kinetic object of
amazing sensuality and grace. � Egan's article, referencing the
magazine's earlier tests of the model, also listed XKE performance
statistics, many still considered excellent by today's standards:
150mph top speed; 0-60mph in 7.4 seconds; 0-100mph in 16.7 seconds;
265 horsepower and 260 lb.-ft. of torque from the 230.6 cubic-inch
6-cylinder engine and 4-speed transmission combination. He praised
the driving experience: And that legendary engine torque is real.
The car pulls away from a stop effortlessly, accelerates with
steady, relentless force and cruises at highway speed with the
calm assurance of a Merlin V-12 at part throttle. Get on the gas at
70 mph and you can feel those six long-stroke pistons start picking
'em up and putting 'em down; the car zooms up to 90 with a low,
steady growl and no particular drama. And what else would you
expect? Seventy mph is less than half speed. � Egan ended his
piece with more praise: The E-Type seems to have been created by
people who loved what they were doing and wanted, almost child
like, to show us what they could make. And what they made was the
product of hard work, historical good fortune and pure inspiration
from the deepest and most sincere yearnings of the�human spirit.
It's a graceful blend of craft and innocence whose like we may not
see again. � The Series 1 Jaguar XKE offered here is a magnificent
example of this historic model. In every respect, the car has been
lovingly treated, faithfully maintained, and in a nearly $50,000,
3-year regimen completed in 1994, restored to as close to
perfection as is humanly possible. This no-expense-spared work was
commissioned by the XKE's owner of
