Designed by Malcolm Sayer
The Jaguar E-type (XK-E in America) was done by Jaguar aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer, who had learned to calculate low-drag shapes from a German P.O.W. while serving in the Middle East during World War II. Like the racing D-type (another Sayer design) from which it was derived, the XK-E ended up looking the way it did solely because of aerodynamic requirements--and yet it was still achingly gorgeous. The slippery body helped the E-type approach a top speed of 150 mph, an awesome achievement in 1961.