2026-01-18 16:04:41 | Wilde writes:

This E-Type roadster was ordered directly from the Jaguar factory in Coventry by François Mazet, who was living at the time in London and would go on to be the French Formula 3 Champion. Recommended to ‘Lofty’ England by a racing driver friend, in 1964 Mazet took delivery of one of the first 4.2-litre roadsters (chassis no. 1E10431), which was specially equipped with features from the Lightweight: D-Type wheels with Dunlop Racing tyres, a strengthened rear axle, wider rear track, wider front and rear wings, D-Type front disc brakes, a close-ratio gearbox, an engine with a special camshaft and exhaust manifold, and aluminium doors and bonnet (these last items confirmed in a later letter from Mazet to Richard Gletton).

Mazet competed in several events with the car, including the Grand Prix de Paris at Montlhéry in May 1965, where he finished ahead of Sylvain Garant’s Ferrari GTO, and the Rallye des Routes du Nord in 1966 (teamed up with the photographer Manou Zurini). It remained on English plates (DRW 608C) until Mazet registered it in France in 1967 with the number 6362 TK 75. He used the car to drive to the events he was competing in, until a serious accident, on an icy evening in the Parc de Saint-Cloud, led to him disposing of it as a write-off to the coachbuilder Henri Chapron in 1971. The car turned up again at Nîmes during the 1970s, in unknown condition, with the registration number 5040 SS 30. (Artcurial Rétromobile Paris 2026, see 876688).