Though Jaguar no longer maintains a presence in endurance racing, in the 1950s the British marque dominated with no less than five wins in seven editions of the 24 Hours. But unlike the Type C and the Type D, the Jaguar Type E never won at Le Mans, including the S850664 chassis for sale at auction in California this month.

The car boasting the racing number 14 that was entered in the GT +3.0 class, one of three Jaguar Type Es entered by Briggs Cunningham's team at Le Mans, did not even complete 10 laps at the 1963 24 Hours. Walt Hansgen and Augie Pabst were forced to retire after the gearbox failed. After the race, the car was returned to Jaguar's workshops to have the four-speed transmission switched out for a five-speed, just prior to crossing the Atlantic.

It finished in 11th place driven by Walt Hansgen and Paul Richards at Road America 500 in September of 1963, then in an encouraging fourth place thanks to Richards one week later at Bridgehampton in the state of New York. The S850664's brief career in competition ended there, but the car was then put on display in Briggs Cunningham's museum in Costa Mesa, south of Los Angeles.

The car, which has changed hands several times, should fetch a princely sum (Bonhams has not provided an estimation for Lot #52) on August 18th despite its poor record. With only 12 units ever produced, to find a Jaguar Type E "Lightweight" for sale is extremely rare. One sold for $7,370,000 back in January in Scottsdale, Arizona at one of the three top vintage car events in the U.S. (Monterey in California and Amelia Island in Florida are the others).