The Jaguar E-type turns 60 this year. It’s one of the world’s most famous classic cars, and certainly the most famous to have been launched in 1961. But it wasn’t the only classic born that year. Here are six more cars that share a birthday with the British icon.
Alpine A110
Renault’s Alpine sports car division launched the A110 to much acclaim in 2017, but it takes its name, and a big chunk of its design inspiration from the original two-seater Alpine built from the mechanicals of Renault’s rear-engined 8 saloon.
The A110 had a long 16-year production run and was a hugely successful rally car, winning the '73 Monte and capturing the WRC title that year.
MG Midget
Introduced a year before the classic MGB, the little Midget was based on the characterful Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite. It used the same 948cc A-series engine found in the Healey with some minor tweaks, but lost the cute Frogeye front-end – as did the Mk2 version of the Sprite introduced at the same time.
One of the biggest selling cars ever, but often overshadowed in the classic world by its Volkswagen Beetle and Citroën 2CV contemporaries, the Renault 4 remained in production for an incredible 33 years.
Volvo is best known for its SUVs and estates these days, but back in the 1960s Roger Moore was regularly seen looking save and sophisticated in a P1800 coupe in TV’s The Saint.
The P1800 first appeared as a two-door coupé, but morphed into a sexy shooting brake for the last couple of years of its life.
Quite possibly the weirdest looking car of all time, the Ami had a Ford Anglia-like reverse-rake rear window and a face even a mother would struggle to love.
The air-cooled front-wheel drive Ami was positioned above the beloved 2CV and was very similar under the skin.
The Mini celebrated its 60th birthday a couple of years ago, and now its the turn of its hot-rodded alter ego, seen here with a mid-engined Cooper Car Company single seater.
The Cooper’s 55bhp 997cc twin-carb engine offered a big step up in performance compared with the standard 34bhp 848cc Mini, but the really quick Cooper S models didn’t appear until 1963.
Keyword: Can you name 6 other classics that share the Jaguar E-type’s 60th birthday?