Year: 1974 Make: Jaguar Model: E-Type Series III V12 Roadster Registration: GCF 420N Chassis No: 1S2209BW Engine No: 7S12620A Odometer: 67,000 The Jaguar E-Type was ten years old and in need of a new lease of life.

History repeated itself when Jaguar debuted its robust V12 engine in a sportscar instead of the saloon for which it was designed.

Despite its sportscar heritage, Jaguar depended on saloon vehicles for its survival and had developed the twelve-cylinder engine to power them with sufficient torque and refinement.

Larger and softer in nature and with its weight redistributed 53/47, the Series III had lost the wilds of its youth but gained the long-legged touring profile to which it was arguably better suited.

Robert Bell in Motor magazine was quoted as saying at the time that 'all we expected to try was a new engine, but what in fact we drove was a new car.

Not a yowling, aggressive Ferrari-like machine with which, perhaps, most people associate a V12 engine, but a very smo...