Jaguar XKE 4.2L Inline 6 1966 images

The 1966 Jaguar E-Type’s biggest upgrade wasn’t more horsepower, it was everything Jaguar fixed around the engine. A larger 4.2-liter inline six gained real mid-range torque, a fully synchronized gearbox erased the old car’s notoriously balky first gear, and a modernized electrical system made the E-Type as usable as it was beautiful. These photos, courtesy of Gateway Classic Cars, showcase a Series 1 example from the era widely considered the E-Type’s mechanical sweet spot.

1966 Jaguar XKE 4.2L Inline 6 Cyl 4-Speed Manual

MCF thanks Gateway Classic Cars for the images displayed here.

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A car that could out-corner nearly everything on American roads in 1966 didn’t need a big-inch V8 to prove a point; it just needed the right engine tucked under that impossibly long hood. Jaguar had already stunned the world with the E-Type’s styling, so the harder trick was making the driving experience live up to the looks. In 1965 the company reached for a bigger, torquier inline six and quietly rewrote what the car could do without touching its silhouette. What changed under the skin, and why did it matter more than the numbers on paper suggested?

The Quiet Upgrade Under the Hood

In 1965, Jaguar bored out the E-Type’s inline six from 3.8 liters to 4.2 liters, and the changes went well beyond displacement. The car pictured here, a 1966 example finished in the Series 1 4.2-liter specification, represents that fully sorted version of the E-Type, one that traded a few of the original’s rough edges for real-world usability without losing any of the drama.

Why 283 lb-ft Mattered More Than the Peak Number

On paper the 4.2-liter six made about the same peak horsepower as the earlier 3.8, roughly 265 hp at 5,400 rpm, so the headline number barely moved. The real gain was torque, which jumped about 10 percent to 283 lb-ft, giving the E-Type noticeably stronger mid-range pull exactly where most drivers actually live on the road.

Small Fixes That Made a Big Difference to Drive

Jaguar also gave the 4.2-liter cars a fully synchronized four-speed gearbox, finally curing the notoriously balky, unsynchronized first gear that had frustrated owners of earlier 3.8-liter E-Types. Reclining seats, an upgraded electrical system with an alternator replacing the old dynamo, and a more reliable brake package rounded out a car that felt genuinely modern rather than merely fast.

The Series 1 Sweet Spot

These 1965-1967 Series 1 4.2 cars are often considered the sweet spot of the entire E-Type run: still wearing the purest, least cluttered version of Malcolm Sayer’s original bodywork, but with enough mechanical maturity to actually live with day to day.

A Gateway Classic Cars Survivor

A well-kept example like the one shown here, sourced through Gateway Classic Cars, is a reminder of just how far ahead of its time the E-Type’s combination of shape and engineering really was.

Why the E-Type Still Defines the Species

Enzo Ferrari’s supposed comment calling the E-Type the most beautiful car ever made has become such a cliche that it obscures how genuinely radical the shape looked next to anything else on sale in 1966. Six decades later, Series 1 4.2 cars like this one remain the benchmark against which every subsequent E-Type, and arguably every subsequent Jaguar, still gets measured.

An Engine With Roots Twenty Years Deep

The XK inline six under this car’s hood traced its basic architecture back to the original 1948 XK120, meaning the 4.2-liter unit fitted here was a refinement of a design already nearly two decades old by 1966 rather than a clean-sheet engine, a testament to how well Jaguar’s original engineers got the layout right the first time.

Le Mans Wins Built the Reputation First

Jaguar’s C-Type and D-Type race cars won the 24 Hours of Le Mans multiple times during the 1950s, establishing the brand’s performance credibility years before a single E-Type reached a showroom floor. That racing pedigree is a large part of why the road-going E-Type was taken so seriously the moment it appeared.

Three Body Styles, One Basic Shape

Jaguar offered the E-Type as a two-seat open roadster, a fixed-head coupe, and, starting in 1966, a longer-wheelbase 2+2 coupe with a usable back seat, widening the car’s appeal beyond dedicated sports-car buyers without disturbing the basic silhouette that made it famous.

The Next Chapter Was Already Coming

Series 1 cars like this one gave way to the Series 2 E-Type in 1968, a redesign shaped heavily by looming American safety and emissions rules that forced exposed, uncovered headlights and larger, higher-mounted taillights in place of the smoother original details.

What Series 1 Cars Command Today

Well-preserved Series 1 4.2-liter E-Types, particularly those with matching numbers and a clear ownership history, rank among the most consistently sought-after classic Jaguars at collector auctions, commanding a premium over both earlier 3.8-liter cars and the later, more heavily regulated Series 2.

A Design That Needed No Redesign

Aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer approached the E-Type’s shape as an exercise in reducing drag rather than pure styling for its own sake, which is a large part of why the silhouette still reads as strikingly modern more than six decades after it first appeared.

A Company on the Verge of Losing Its Independence

Jaguar merged into British Motor Holdings in 1966, the same year this car was built, and would be absorbed further into the sprawling British Leyland conglomerate just two years later, meaning cars like this one were among the last built while Jaguar still operated as a fully independent company.

Undercutting Ferrari and Aston Martin on Price

When the E-Type launched in 1961, its combination of top-tier performance and Italian-exotic styling at a price well below comparable Ferraris and Aston Martins stunned the industry and instantly made it one of the best relative values in the entire sports car world.

The Electrical Reputation That Followed It Everywhere

Like most British sports cars of its era, the E-Type earned a reputation among owners for occasionally temperamental electrics, a quirk of the period’s component suppliers rather than any single design flaw, and one that dedicated owners today have generally learned to manage with patience and a well-stocked spares drawer.

A Halo Car Sitting Alongside a Volume Seller

While the E-Type captured headlines, Jaguar’s actual sales volume through the 1960s leaned heavily on saloons like the Mark 2, meaning the E-Type functioned as an image-building halo car for a company whose everyday business depended on far less glamorous four-door sedans.

Built With America Specifically in Mind

Jaguar produced the E-Type in both left-hand and right-hand drive specifically because the United States quickly became its single largest export market, and cars like this one were built with that American buyer, not just the home UK market, front of mind.

Recognized as a Design Object, Not Just a Car

The Museum of Modern Art in New York added an E-Type to its permanent design collection in 1996, a rare honor that treats the car as a piece of industrial design history rather than simply an old sports car.

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