Too often, heritage-inspired special editions are little more than cynical cash grabs aimed at a vehicle’s biggest fans. Occasionally, though, a cool take comes along, and much like the vehicle that inspires it, the new Jaguar F-Type Heritage 60 is as cool as it gets.
The British automaker is using its latest two-seat sports car to honor its most iconic, giving the 2021 F-Type a number of cues inspired by the legendary E-Type, which celebrates its 60th birthday in 2021. And while it’s easy to home in on the gorgeous Sherwood Green paint job or the E-Type badging, this F-Type will stand out not for how it looks, but for how rare it is. Jag is only building 60 examples, and if that’s not enough, Jaguar Land Rover’s SV Bespoke team is building each car, available as either a hardtop coupe or a soft-top convertible, by hand.
SV Bespoke’s work includes the aforementioned Sherwood Green paint, a color that hasn’t appeared in Jaguar’s palette since the 1960s – it is to Jaguar as Guardsman Blue is to the Ford Mustang and Rosso Corsa is to Ferrari. We sincerely hope it makes a permanent reappearance at some point in the future, because this shade is gorgeous. Paired with “diamond-turned” 20-inch wheels, chrome detailing, and a very special E-Type badge on the tail, the exterior of this F-Type looks almost as good as the original E-Type.
Designers contrasted the exterior with a two-tone cabin, featuring Windsor leather upholstery in Caraway and Ebony and an aluminum – or “aluminium,” if you’re feeling particularly British – finish on the center stack. The E-Type identifiers are subtler here than on the outside of the car, with a small badge above the touchscreen infotainment system, distinct sill plates calling out this car’s limited-run nature, and the E-Type 60th Anniversary logo embossed on the headrests.
All in all, the F-Type Heritage 60 is an understated tribute to the classic E-Type. Its powertrain, however, is the opposite of understated – each example features the F-Type R’s supercharged 5.0-liter V8. This raucous powerplant, good for 575 horsepower (429 kW) and 516 pound-feet (700 Nm) of torque, hurls the two-seater to 60 in a brisk 3.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 186 miles per hour. Mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and a standard all-wheel-drive system, it’s fair to say that performance is one area the F-Type will eclipse the E.
Jaguar hasn’t put a number on how many of the 60 Heritage 60 models will arrive in the United States, nor has it announced pricing for this rare take on the F-Type. Considering the limited production run and the hand-built nature, though, we expect a healthy increase on the F-Type R’s $103,200 starting price.
