Jaguar is to build a limited run of six brand-new E-type Lightweights – and the firm’s first-ever ‘recreation’ will mean the full intended run of 18 lightweight E-types is finished, more than half a century after it started.

The ‘missing six’ E-type Lightweights will all use period chassis numbers allocated back in 1963, and will be hand-built in house by Jaguar craftsmen.

They will all faithfully follow the original specification, and are naturally expected to be in huge demand. The firm says that “established Jaguar collectors, especially those with historic race car interests, will be prioritised amongst those potential customers who express interest”.

Does this, rather like it does with Ferrari, indicate the preferred customers who may be favoured when it comes to confirming the deal?

The ‘new’ Jaguar E-type lightweights will all use a 3.8-litre straight-six engine, and all weigh 114kg less than a standard E-type courtesy of the hand-formed aluminium body. There’ll also be no exterior chromework, no interior trim and the same distinctive hand-operated side windows.

Jaguar is clearly already underway producing the first car (the images below show it’s pretty advanced already, too…). The firm confirms it will make its public debut “later this summer”. More information, it adds, will be released at that point – including, presumably, the price.

Over to you: as surprising news stories go, the fact Jaguar is once again to build brand-new E-types is one of the stories of the week. What do you make of it?