Since the first production Jaguar E-type made its debut in 1961 the world has swooned over the car’s beautiful lines. In the decades that have passed the marque’s designers have experimented with different bodywork, and in some cases even re-shaped the entire car. Check this out

In 1963, Jaguar’s design director Malcolm Sayer envisioned an ultra-light roadster. To reduce weight Sayer used thinner steel and unique aluminum panels to cut 250 pounds from the standard XK model. He also added a stripped interior, lack of exterior chrome and hand-crank windows to further trim the car. Twelve Lightweight cars were built. Briggs Cunningham and Roy Salvadori raced them to a second place finish at Spa-Francorchamps in the 1960s, but they couldn’t outrun Ferraris at Le Mans.

Unveiling the Best: Showcasing Standout E-Type Jaguar Builds

With its 3.8-litre straight-six producing a healthy 265 horsepower the car could be driven very quickly. As such, its drivers were known to push the accelerator pedal to the floor and test their 150 mph top speed. It’s a safe bet that Enzo Ferrari was more than a little bit annoyed by this.

Today, Jaguar Classic has brought six of the Lightweights back to life as part of its E-Type 60 Collection. To ensure the accuracy of the rebuild, the technicians scanned each one’s inner and outer surfaces using state-of-the-art scanning technology. The results provided the engineers with a detailed digital map of each car’s dimensions and shape down to a fraction of a millimeter. Using that information and the expertise of the Heritage team the six new Lightweights were carefully rebuilt with the same meticulous attention to detail as the originals.