1963 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8-Litre Coupé - Offered Directly from Rowan Atkinson CBE

When Jaguar unveiled the E-Type at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, it caused a sensation. Jaguar PR Director Bob Berry famously drove the first Fixed-Head Coupé overnight across Europe, arriving just in time for the show’s opening, where the new model immediately stole the headlines. With a top speed in excess of 150mph and 0–60mph in just seven seconds, it was the fastest production car in the world and, according to Enzo Ferrari, 'the most beautiful car ever made'. That launch car, chassis #2, finished in Opalescent Gunmetal Grey and registered 9600 HP, would go on to become one of the most celebrated E-Types of all time.

Fast forward six decades and the car's legend was reignited in 2022 with the Netflix comedy series Man vs Bee, starring Rowan Atkinson CBE. Commissioned by Netflix and viewed more than 25,000,000 hours globally, the series follows Atkinson’s character, a hapless house-sitter, as his attempts to rid a lavish country home of an irritating bee result in ever-escalating chaos, including catastrophic damage to what is portrayed as the 9600 HP E-Type. Viewers will recall the sequence in which the car’s rear window is shattered when reversed into a statue, the dashboard is destroyed with a crow bar, and a diamond cutter slices through the bodywork, all in pursuit of the elusive bee.

This very car is the actual Jaguar E-Type used by Rowan Atkinson in those memorable scenes, now offered for sale directly from his personal ownership. 

In reality, it is a 1963 Jaguar E-Type Series I 3.8-litre Coupé, finished in Opalescent Gunmetal Grey, originally supplied to the US in left-hand-drive form before returning to the UK in 1989. Since repatriation, it has been converted to right-hand drive and treated to numerous cosmetic and mechanical improvements including new chrome fittings, interior retrim with fresh seats, door cards and carpets, and an SS exhaust system. The car retains its original matching numbers engine block, though like many early cars it now carries a replacement cylinder head. 

Following its on-screen exploits, the car has been sympathetically restored and repaired, with a replacement rear window and dashboard and extra spares of both (from the film set) come with the car. The only subtle evidence of its cinematic career is on the nearside rear quarter — Mr Atkinson didn’t want to repair the hole that he personally (in character) had created, and so he asked for the section he had cut out to be rubber sealed back into the wing - a charming reminder and irrefutable proof of its starring role.

In every sense this is an exceptional opportunity, a desirable early E-Type 3.8 Coupé in the model’s most iconic colour, with impeccable provenance, celebrity ownership, and genuine screen-used status in a globally successful Netflix production. With a sequel, Man vs Baby, due for release this Christmas, its fame is set only to grow.

A truly unique example of Britain’s most beautiful sports car, offered without reserve directly from Rowan Atkinson CBE himself.