The Grand Tour There is a particular kind of road that seems made for a car like this. Empty, unhurried, bending gently toward nothing in particular. We found ours around four in the afternoon, when the sun was still high enough to light the whole landscape but low enough to start carving shadows into the bodywork. Then I did what any sensible photographer does. I stood in the middle of it. The E-Type is not a car to be photographed from above. Its beauty lives in the long hood and that low, wide stance, and the only way to do it justice is to meet it head-on. On an open road, that requires a good deal of trust between photographer and driver. He came at me several times. On the last pass he was smiling, and that was the frame. Black and white strips away the paint and leaves only the shape. This one left the factory in 1968. More than half a century on, the shape is still enough.
Go Speed Racer The E-Type was advertised at 150 miles an hour when it launched in 1961, which made it one of the fastest production cars in the world. This photograph was taken at a rather more civilized speed. The technique is panning: a slow shutter, the camera swung in time with the car, so the background smears into motion and the car stays sharp. It takes many attempts, and most go in the bin. The driver was patient. The grin was entirely his own.