Lot details
Registration No: 968 YUH
Chassis No: 850250
Mot Expiry: Oct 2012

With the dust barely settled on their 50th anniversary, E-Types are still a hot topic, and no version more sought after than the immortal Series 1 Roadster. The right-hand drive example offered vacated Jaguar's hallowed Browns Lane factory on October 26th 1961. It was destined for Hong Kong and despatched to Gilman & Co, the local distributor, on November 8th. At that stage it was finished in Opalescent Dark Green teamed with a Black hood and Suede Green interior.

Fast-forward to mid-1984, when it was discovered in a very sorry state in an open courtyard by Cathay Pacific pilot Malcolm Kates, who purchased it for restoration. Progress was such that the project was unfinished when Mr Kates returned to the UK during 1993. The E-type was duly repatriated in a 40ft container along with the family's household effects and a Ginetta G3 for company.

There was a further change of plan on the horizon, however, and by December 2000 the Kates family were on the move once more - first to Hong Kong and then finally to retirement in Western Australia two years later. Not wishing to subject the E-Type to a further tour of the globe, Mr Kates commissioned renowned marque specialist Brian Wilkinson of Zealia Engineering, Newmarket to complete the restoration. This has now happened and the finished car is available for sale for the first time in twenty-eight years.

'968 YUH' now sports Red coachwork mated to a Black leather interior. The vendor describes the bodywork, paintwork, interior trim, six-cylinder engine and four-speed manual gearbox as all being in "good" order, and the E-Type is being offered complete with the original Hong Kong registration book, transfer of ownership form, a letter from Jaguar, invoices for parts purchased in the UK, Jaguar Heritage certificate and MOT valid into October.