Next Milestones
We’re getting closer to passing another milestone: the 9,000th E-Type should be recorded within the next two or three months–we’re just about to add the 8,700th machine (tomorrow, perhaps?). 4,000 XKs will be a much tougher slog: We just passed 3,300 and they come in more slowly than the E-Types. And the saloons site has just started but in theory is a much larger pool of cars…in theory. Watching eBay auctions for them, it seems the majority of them are project cars, as opposed to drivers or restored beauties. I imagine their attrition rate is far higher than the sports cars. Are even 10% of them left?
This time next year I hope to see 10,000 E-Types, 4,000 XKs and 1,000 Saloons. That’s still pretty exciting.
Currently, we have 12,203 Jaguars of all types recorded.

Roger, I have to admit that I’m amazed that 8,700 E-Types still exist. A number of years ago it was surmised that of the 49,000 Frogeye Sprites built, perhaps 6,000 are left today. Sprites were obviously “used up” at a greater rate than more expensive Jaguars, but it’s still encouraging to see survival rates exceeding ten percent for cars in their fourth and fifth decades. With fewer cars being broken for parts, I think the days of three cars going in for restoration and one coming out are over, so 10K cars next year sounds like a realistic milestone.
-Mark
1966 FHC 1E32208
Comment by Mark Shipley — December 15, 2006 @ 9:20 am
Mark, frankly I’m as pleasantly surprised as you are. And the majority of the cars found and put into the site seem to come from online auction reports…that says to me there are plenty more out there. Heck, on the island I live on there are at least a dozen E-Types not in the database, and maybe four to five that are. I begin to wonder…did half survive? Pretty amazing for a production car.
Comment by roger — December 15, 2006 @ 9:53 am
My Porsche 911-crazed brother (’66 coupe/’81 SC) said that he was continually amazed at the number of classic cars he saw in garages when he drove for UPS. I’m going out on a limb here, but my guess is that every 40-year-old classic on the road has a non-running but restorable counterpart just sitting.
Comment by Mark Shipley — December 15, 2006 @ 12:56 pm