1964 Jaguar XKE represents at Barrett Jackson Auction in Scottsdale

Wednesday at the 2015 Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale, AZ a 1964 Jaguar XKE (E-Type) Series 1 Roadster sold and wait till you hear what Craig Jackson had to say about it.

It’s that time of year when automobile auctions are heating up the air waves. If you are very lucky you might be fortunate enough to attend one in person and catch the fever. Scottsdale, AZ is the place to be in January if you are an automobile enthusiast and this year promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Most of the time the Barrett Jackson auction is filled with American muscle cars from the 60’s and 70’s, but occasionally you will see a few European sports cars cross the block, but not like it was a short time ago. Iconic hot-rods and classic customs have sort of taken over as the cars to build and the cars that bring the top dollar today. However, a special British Roadster sold on January 14th and it even had Craig Jackson (Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Barrett Jackson Auction Company) talking about it.

The 1964 Jaguar XKE (E-Type) Series 1 Roadster (Lot # 7000) was in pristine condition and the Onyx Black paint glistened like wet nail polish. The tan top and interior was the perfect contrast of this vintage open top roadster. The California car was complete with full documentation of the restoration performed and also proof of zero rust and accident free. It was equipped with a 3.8 liter dual overhead cam engine with three carbs. The 4-speed manual transmission, independent front and rear suspension, 4-wheel disc brakes, and chrome spoke wheels set the car apart in a muscle heavy crowd. The car sold for $181,500.00 and was a fine example of how well the British sports cars are doing at auction these days.

Hagerty shows an upward trend in the price of these spectacular looking cars, however, they have an average price on the convertible of $110,910 listed on their website. I’m sure the temptation at an auction to continue bidding is very hard to resist. For a pristine example like the one sold Wednesday night, it’s not surprising it sold for such a premium. After all, American muscle cars are flashy, loud, and downright in your face, but a classic roadster like this series 1 E-Type has a certain kind of swagger to it.

Very interesting to me was hearing the comments about the Jaguar E-Type from Craig Jackson, he said “These are great cars with iconic lines, the new F-Type gets a lot of its styling cues from the E-Type – these cars are one of the most beautiful, I mean, I not a huge English car fan, but these are one of the cars I really like. European sports car are one of hottest on the market today.” Showing his knowledge of classics, Craig knew what he was talking about when he said he thought this car would do well across the block, the Jaguar was one of the top sellers on Wednesday at the Scottsdale Auction.