Rowan “Mr. Bean” Atkinson is selling a Jaguar E-Type that accompanied him to the filming set. Iconic Auctioneers doesn’t have a price estimate, but the auction will start in early November.
The E-Type in question is a first-generation model assembled in 1963. It was one of the British company’s first vehicles to shine in Opalescent Gunmetal Grey – right after the Jaguar convertible that premiered at the Geneva International Motor Show in 1961. It had its steering wheel on the left-hand side and shipped to a customer in the United States.
In 1989, the car made it back to the UK and was subsequently converted to RHD. The interior was retrimmed, and the exterior was spruced up with some chrome elements and a new exhaust system.
The 3.8-liter six-cylinder engine has stayed stock to this day except for a new cylinder head assembly, the listing claims. It currently produces 265 PS (261 hp / 195 kW) working in tandem with a four-speed manual transmission. Back in its prime time, the first-gen E-Type could reach 96.6 km/h (60 mph) in seven seconds or so, and proceeded to hit 240 km/h (149 mph) if you left the foot on the pedal for long enough.
In 2022, Atkinson drove his car in the show “Man vs. Bee”. It ended up with a number of dents, scratches and other body damage in the process. It was largely repaired with only one slight scuff remaining “to highlight its cinematic past.”
Iconic Auctioneers is selling the car on behalf of Atkinson himself, so it might fetch a nice sum given the celebrity background.
