In 1963, Jaguar undertook the 'Special GT E-Type' project, which intended to build 18 aluminum-bodied versions of the E-Type sports car to be used in motorsports competition. These vehicles enjoyed a sterling reputation on the racing circuit, but Jaguar only managed to produce 12 examples before moving on to other projects. This left six chassis codes unused - until now. Jaguar has resurrected these designations to be worn by the six Lightweight E-Type models, which will also be hand-built by Jaguar technicians using the same methods employed on the original dozen cars (11 of which survive today).

Even though Jaguar won't be using any of its modern production practices in the building of these continuation Lightweight E-Types, there's still some technological wizardry employed to keep things as historically accurate as possible. Jaguar has made sure to digitally map the bodywork of previous Lightweight E-Types inside and out so as to have a hyper-accurate blueprint from which to work on the new models. It's not just the aluminum panels that are formed by hand on this vehicle: the 3.8-liter inline six-cylinder engine (complete with three carburetors and a dry-sump oiling system) and chassis are also put together without the use of present-day techniques. The six-cylinder is good for just over 300 horsepower and just under 300 lb-ft of torque (280, to be precise), and a four-speed manual gearbox stirs the pot for the coupe.

Want a little more context for the Jaguar Lightweight E-Type? Let's take a quick look at the history of the original E-Type, one of the most iconic sports cars to ever emerge from Europe.