This cream coloured E-type was the 406^th of 776 open two-seaters with right-hand drive built between August 1968 and August 1970. (There were ten times as many with left-hand drive). It was built in October 1969 and registered in Northampton in April 1970, but the first owner is not known. From 1974 it was in the ownership of the same enthusiast, who in 2001 generously donated the car to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.

Introduced in 1961 in 3.8 litre form, the E-type received the bigger 4.2 litre engine together with a fully-synchronised gearbox in 1964. In the following year, the original open two-seater and fixed head coupé models were supplemented by the longer wheelbase 2+2 coupé, on which, for the first time, an automatic gearbox became available. In late 1967, all E-types were modified to comply with the first US safety and emissions regulations which came into force on 1 January 1968, and the resulting interim model has become unofficially known as the ‘Series 1½’.  From then on, the E-type lost its headlamp fairings.

Bigger changes were in store for the 1969 models, again due to the influence of US legislation. At the front, much larger side lamps and indicators were re-positioned below the bumper, and flanked a larger air intake.