Jaguar is in a strange place right now. The old lineup has nearly vanished, the new electric era hasn’t won over the faithful, and the most desirable “Jag” of the year isn’t being built at the brand’s factory at all. It’s coming out of a tiny Italian workshop called Retro Coachbuilders — and it costs €498,000, or roughly $570,907.
This is the E-Type Speedster. The base car is a genuine classic Jaguar E-Type, but the body has been reworked into an open-top weapon with an unmistakable nod to the legendary D-Type racer. A chopped windshield, big cowls behind the seats with integrated headrests, no roof, no compromises. This isn’t a careful restoration of a museum piece. It’s an expensive fantasy about what Jaguar could still be — if anyone at the factory still knew how.
What follows is a spec sheet that almost feels confrontational in 2026. V12 only. Manual only. No automatics, no hybrids, no attempt to pretend it’s something fashionable. Buyers pick the engine: a near-stock 5.3-liter, a later 6.0-liter, or a more extreme 7.0-liter V12 whose figures Retro Coachbuilders hasn’t disclosed yet. The gearbox is a 4-, 5-, or 6-speed manual, optionally with a gated open-gate shifter straight out of a 1960s racer.
Then the real fun begins — the bespoke build. Body color, interior trim, materials, exterior details — all chosen by the buyer. Aluminum body panels, no bumpers, a hood scoop, rally-style vent slits cut into the bodywork. The showcased example is actually one of the milder ones: restrained paint, tan leather, and a gorgeous engine-turned dashboard finish. The whole point of the project is that no two cars will ever be identical.
The price explains everything. €498,000 before options puts this in supercar territory. Except Retro Coachbuilders isn’t selling seconds to 100 km/h. It’s selling something far rarer: an open-top classic Jaguar, a V12 without compromises, a manual gearbox, hand-built craftsmanship, and the feeling of a car no big automaker would dare put into production today.
And it works. Singer built an entire industry out of old Porsches, Icon reawakened the world to vintage off-roaders, and now that same logic has reached Jaguar. Wealthy buyers don’t just want an expensive car anymore. They want a story they can tailor to themselves — one they won’t find sitting in three identical copies in front of a hotel.
The smartest move Retro Coachbuilders makes is refusing to guess what Jaguar should become next. It takes the Jaguar everyone already loves — and makes it impossibly new.
