This car is under my care… I can't really claim to "own" it because it is a family heirloom of sorts. It was my father's car and I plan to pass it along to my sons. It is a 1965 E-type Jaguar. My father bought it as a "junker" and as a retirement project restored it back to "driver" condition. He & I drove it in many vintage car events, most of them rallies where long distances were covered.
Cars must be driven, and this car is driven often, and
driven as its designers intended: hard. The last chapter of the owner's manual is all about prepping the car for competition driving. A refreshing breeze from a past without excessive litigation!
Last year I drove it from Seattle to LA and back with my sons (one southbound, the other north). This year I drove it all over the northern Rockies: Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, and Montana.
Many of the styling cues on the Mazda that started this thread were inspired by the E-type Jaguar. Malcolm Sayer, the E-type's designer referred to himself as an "aerodynamicist" rather than a designer, and based this on mathematical studies of ovoid shapes. He had worked at Bristol Aircraft during the war and was involved in many iconic aircraft and automobiles, including the
C-type,
D-type, and
XJ-13.
It is wonderful to drive. It is visceral, yet refined. It is essentially a refinement of the D-type race car that dominated the 24 Hours at Le Mans throughout the 50s - with a monocoque chassis and a tube-frame forward of the firewall. It has four-wheel disc brakes, and a fully independent rear suspension, which makes for amazing handling, even at extreme speeds. It is very predictable with a slight bias toward oversteer. It never breaks away without plenty of prior warning.
It is powered by the iconic Jaguar XK inline-six engine. It is a big-bore, long-stroke, triple-carburetted, hemi-headed, twin-overhead cam work of art. The sound it makes has been called "Sir William's Sixth Symphony" after
Sir William Lyon, Jaguar's founder. The sound is unique, and to a true gearhead it is a heavenly tune.
1753Thanks
