12 July 2024 | Event News
Each of Salon Privé’s Geneva cars – a 1951 Mercedes-Benz 300 S Cabriolet A, a 1960 Maserati 3500 GT Spyder and a 1961 Jaguar E-Type – went on to represent an important chapter in their respective manufacturers’ histories, so these first-of-type cars are expected to garner a great deal of interest.
The cars’ appearance at Blenheim also has an added note of poignancy, with the Geneva International Motor Show’s organisers announcing earlier this year that the 2024 event would be its last, and that the Comité permanent du Salon International de l’Automobile Foundation would be dissolved. So this unique group is not only a rare treat for concours-goers, but a fitting legacy to one of the world’s greatest motor shows.
T has also been so much written about the car’s 1961 Geneva Show launch – with tales of derring-do, delivering test cars through the night for the press unveil the following day – has just added to the model’s mystique. So, to have at this year’s Salon Privé Concours a central player from the theatre that unfolded on the shores of Lake Geneva 63 years ago is quite remarkable.
The Jaguar E-Type’s mix of advanced engineering and an achingly-beautiful Malcolm Sayer body design would have been revelatory in itself in the early Sixties, but when it cost around half the price of an Aston Martin and could (so Jaguar claimed) clip 150mph, there was an understandable furore surrounding its launch.
Equipped with all-round independent suspension, disc brakes front and rear, and rack and pinion steering, the E-Type marked a huge departure from the XK150 which had preceded it. It’s unitary body and clever front subframe design, which carried the engine, front suspension and front bodywork, also meant that it weighed 225kg less than the XK150. And when the XK’s 3.8-litre, 265bhp ‘six’ was carried over into the new, lighter car, it was no surprise that Jaguar was so bullish with its performance claims.
Chassis #885005 is one of just three E-Types to have been used by Jaguar at the model’s 1961 Geneva debut, and is the very first to have been seen in public when it was revealed to media and VIPs at Le Gastronomic du Parc des Eaux Vives on March 15, 1961.
The car actually started life with a roadster chassis, but when Sir William Lyons insisted that the show car should match the Coupé being used for demonstration drives (the now famous ‘9600 HP’), its body was modified accordingly. As soon as #885005 had played its role at the restaurant on the eve of the show – where it was hidden in a giant packing case, the sides of which collapsed to reveal the new model – it was transferred to Jaguar’s stand at the show’s hall.
Post-Geneva, the pre-production E-Type was registered in Switzerland and sold to CAP Assurances, an insurance company whose chief executive was Georges Filippinetti, founder of race team Scuderia Filippinetti. However, little is known about the car’s subsequent history until it was acquired by Pierre Pittet in 1999. It was then sold in 2002 to Georg Doenni of GB Classics in Switzerland, before being transferred to the Jenny Collection. The car then underwent an extensive restoration, during which many body parts were carefully corrected to represent how this E-Type would have appeared in Geneva in 1961.
Andrew Bagley, Concours Chairman of Salon Privé, said: “We are delighted to have such a unique group of pre-production cars that would have created so much publicity for their respective manufacturers back in the day, now presented in the Salon Privé Concours. Each has a unique back-story, which tells us so much about the last-minute engineering and design changes that took place before the cars’ production versions came to market.”
Entries for the 2024 Salon Privé Concours presented by Aviva Private Clients are now closed. For 2025 entries, please contact Concours coordinator Nick Wilkes on +44 (0)7795 213 361 or at NickW@salonpriveconcours.com
