Gearheads rarely agree on which car is the most beautiful ever designed, but a select few appear on more lists than most.

The Lamborghini Miura, for instance. The '63 Corvette Stingray. The Ferrari 246 GT Dino. And the car you see here, a Series 1 Jaguar XKE, otherwise known as the E-Type.

It's been a while since we've seen one as pretty as that featured on Jay Leno's Garage, though.

As a 1963 car it's a fairly early Series 1, about as original as they get, and in Jay's preferred coupe form--though many prefer the convertible.

It's a one-owner car, bought brand new by a lady back in 1963, and features the original 3.8-liter straight six engine. It's a unit famed for its smoothness and much more reliable than people give it credit for--provided you carry out adequate maintenance, that is.

No such problems for this car, which has been pampered all its life. In fact, it bears striking resemblance to a car in one of Leno's books, right down to the corrosion on the gas cap.

Luckily, that puts it ahead of the poor '68 E-Type we recently spotted on ebay, which seems to have spent its life in a war zone.

Not a lot of work was needed to get the car to how it looks in the video--merely a little preventative maintenance to ensure it continues to run well, a new battery, and some wider wire-spoke rims with more modern tires. It even still has the E-Type's infamous 'Moss' gearbox, with no syncromesh on first gear.

The crisp white paintwork really seems to pop, particularly when Jay gets the car out on the road. With the majority of XKEs seemingly painted red, silver or traditional British racing green, seeing a svelte white example cruising down the road comes as quite a treat.

To drive... well, we'll leave Jay to explain that one. Sadly, opportunities to drive wonderfully original XKEs don't come up with great regularity...