4 WPD shines at Goodwood

Not an unusual headline for followers of historic racing, but at this year's Festival of Speed, Jaguar’s first Lightweight E-type was honoured for a different reason, winning its class at Goodwood’s Cartier Style et Luxe concours. This rewarding turn of events came about after Shaun Lynn, owner of 4 WPD – Jaguar’s first Lightweight E-type, and restorers CKL Developments decided to return the car to its original 1964 specification.  

Overseeing the work was Peter Wilson, fittingly reunited with the car he’d looked after in the Jaguar Competition Dept nearly six decades ago. Once stripped of its modern racing equipment, the aluminium bodywork was fettled back into late ’64 spec and then painted the correct shade of Pearl Grey. 

With its original Dunlop cast magnesium alloy road wheels affixed and both 1964 alloy-block engine and period Laycock diaphragm clutch carefully rebuilt and fitted, attention turned to the car’s interior. The original trim, removed decades ago, was located but found in such a dry, shrivelled state that it had to be carefully steamed and stretched back into shape before being refitted. A painstaking and delicate process, no doubt, but as a thorough inspection on the lawns outside Goodwood House revealed, well worth it – the car looked magnificent inside and out.

Visit our Great Cars Series book, Jaguar Lightweight E-type - The autobiography of 4 WPD, by Philip Porter