Hampton Court Concours d'Elegance

Chassis 54 on display at Hampton Court

At Concours of Elegance Hampton Court, E-Type UK displayed a significant and recently completed restoration. The 1961 Jaguar E-type 3.8 Series 1 Roadster, Chassis 54, has been restored to exacting original specifications.

The fully matching numbers example has been perfectly finished in its original factory colour specification of Imperial Maroon with Maroon leather and was chosen by world-leading automotive leather firm Bridge of Weir to be displayed in their member’s enclosure among a curated selection of ‘British Legends’.

In order to keep the world-famous British sports car entirely accurate and to period specification, many of the original parts were recomissioned and refitted. When it arrived at the E-Type UK facility, the 54th E-Type to have rolled off the production line had been resprayed in British Racing Green with a beige interior – far from how the car would have looked when it sat on the Coventry factory floor. The in-house body shop team completely stripped down the body and repainted it to its original Imperial Maroon finish.

The interior was taken from beige back to its flamboyant factory maroon – with a hand-built black hood to cover it. Where possible, each nut, bolt, cable and switch was disassembled, cleaned and returned to the condition it was in in 1961. From original spot weld patterns to exacting interior trim pattern, every single detail was considered.

Chassis 54 was in truly exceptional company, with a curated range of top-tier vehicles ranging from the actual Porsche 917K driven by Steve McQueen in the iconic film Le Mans to the ‘Best in Show’ winning 1929 Mercedes-Benz S-Type Barker ‘Boat Tail’, as a selection of the rarest cars in the world assembled in the stunning grounds of Hampton Court Palace. The show truly showcased the crème de la crème of the classic car world, with over 13,000 visitors flocking to the event.

Read the full story on Chassis 54 here