Frequent finder Jim S. has sent in this great Jaguar E-Type Barn Find from Clearwater, Florida. It was taken off the road in the early 1970’s for some repairs and never made it back. The OTS (Open Two-Seater) is listed for sale here on eBay, where despite getting a lot of bids, it has not yet met its reserve.

While it’s not the very most desirable “flat floor” variant, this is an early ‘series 1’ car with the 3.8 liter version of the XK inline 6 and the Moss 4-speed transmission that’s not known for it’s smoothness. Nonetheless, it is said to be extremely original and complete. Question for the E-Type experts; is metallic green an original factory color? I don’t remember seeing an early car in this color before. I was also struck with the idea of using an E-Type as a tow vehicle (note the hitch in the picture above). What exactly would you tow with this OTS (Open Two-Seater)?

It looks suspiciously like heavy items were placed (slid?) on the bonnet while the car was in storage. That is a very complicated piece of metal to repair! It’s hard to believe that someone could treat a beautiful car like this in this manner. Or maybe the car slid under something while it was still on the road? In any case, there will have to be some work completed here.

While all three SU’s are in place, the head was off during the time the car was off the road. The seller states that the head was re-installed for transport, but I’m worried about the internal engine components if they were exposed for that amount of time. The car also was off the road for some “rear end work” but that it’s been reassembled. I wonder what was/is wrong?

The underside picture is somewhat troubling, given the depth of pitting on the frame rail. It’s hard to tell the extent from the picture–if you are interested in bidding, an in-person inspection might be in order. It’s obvious that this car has captured a lot of attention from bidders; I’m wondering if E-Types are going through a similar rise to the early Porsche models that we’ve seen recently? What do you think about this true barn find?