Jaguar E-Type

[Jaguar D-Type]

Lightweight

[Jaguar D-Type]

[Jaguar D-Type]

Another Lightweight

[rjab]

I am looking for an E Type to restore. Does anyone out there have any ideas where I should look to find a list of available sellers. I am interested in 1965-1975 year models. I am not very knowledgeable in Jaguars, but my wife and I saw a 65 yesterday and decided that is what we would like to buy to restore. I would consider buying one already restored if I could afford it.

Thanks,

rjab

[Jaguar D-Type]

Jaguar E-Type Lightweight

The next Jaguar XK to have an aluminum body was/is the new 2007 XK (known as the X150) which also has an aluminum structure.

from classicdriver.com

A radical development

Jaguar won many of the 1950’s endurance tests with its C-type and D-type models, returning to the sporting scene in the early 1960s with the Lightweight, a lighter version of the E-type. This example is number three of only thirteen of the type ever manufactured. The rollout of the E-type at the Geneva motor trade show in 1961 was an electrifying moment. The E-type was available as a coupé or convertible, and had the distinctive, elongated body of the Jaguar that gave the make that sporty, competitive look.

Less than a year after its first showing various versions of the E-type were produced by independent coachbuilders and began to make their appearance on the starting grids of Grand Tourer races. The E-type became a formidable competitor for the Ferrari 250 SWB saloon, bringing victory to Graham Hill at Oulton Park and taking fourth place in the Le Mans race, where it was driven by the Cunningham/Salvadori team. An even newer rival soon emerged, however. Ferrari needed to produce a car that could compete in performance with both the Jaguar and the AC Cobra, so it created the GTO 250. Faced with this Italian competition, Jaguar needed to produce an effective response. At its Coventry works, it radically overhauled the E-type with the aim of competing for nothing less than the Brand Name World Championship, open to all the Grand Tourer models.

Malcolm Sayers was given the task of dissecting a GTO purchased by John Coombs, a man who also owned a racing E-type. Sayers’ report was devastating: “The considerable power of the E-type is overtaken by the lighter weight, more efficient gearbox, smoother aerodynamics and greater manoeuvrability”. As soon as Jaguar’s competition department had produced its report on 16 November 1962, the team went to work. The monocoque body was to be made of sheet aluminium in order to significantly reduce the weight, the chassis had to be reinforced, the anti-fret plates and disc brakes had to be enlarged and the engine needed a Lucas fuel injection pump. Jaguar soon produced two examples (nos. 2 and 3), which it intended to enter for the Sebring Twelve-hour Race in March 1963. The no. 2 model was to be sold to Briggs Cunningham, an importer on the East Coast of the United States and the no. 3 to Kjell Qvale of San Francisco for his drivers, Ed Leslie and Franck Morill. The car finished seventh overall at Sebring, and won its own class. This was one of the few times that the S8 50 660 chassis got the chance to show its mettle. The car then disappeared, but re-emerged in 1998, after three decades of peregrinations, when it was discovered in the garage of a modest house in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Each of the thirteen models produced had minor differences in styling and technical specification. In fact, twelve cars were made, all of them based on convertibles but refitted with a specially designed hard top, but the factory also made a special model for the French collector, Pierre Bardinon, a Lightweight coupé that never got a chance to show what it could do on the racetrack. Not only was the Lightweight E-type’s career cut short in 1964 by the advent of a new style of Jaguar with a rear-mounted engine [I don't know of any rear-engined 1964 Jaguar], it never enjoyed the success on the race-track that had been predicted for it, due to lack of fine-tuning and financial resources. The Lightweight E-type marked the end of the days of glory for the Coventry-based firm. It was not until the mid-eighties that Jaguar returned to its first love, endurance testing, and it did so with great success, as is well known.



The new [3.8 litre] engine was made of a light alloy, and had a dry sump and Lucas guillotine mechanical fuel injection.

The 3.8 litre engine was designed with a wide angle cylinder head inherited from the D-Type. These features gave it an enormous power boost, increasing from 272 hp to more than 320 hp depending on the model. Peter Lindner’s car touched on 350 hp.



It’s hard to discuss a market when there are only thirteen models of this type, or rather twelve, to be precise, because chassis no. S8 50 665 was completely destroyed in the 1963 Le Mans race. All the models are carefully catalogued and rarely change hands.

There remains the atypical example of model no. 3, which was abandoned for almost 35 years, only reappearing with the death of its owner. The car was put up for auction in Monterey, California in August 1998, and was finally won by a British bidder, who took it home after a memorable battle during which the price rose to $815,000. Today an E-type Lightweight, thanks to its rarity value and the aura it emits, might possibly even cross the 1,000,000 euro threshold.



Engine: six inline cylinders

Cylinders: 3781 cc

Power: 320 bhp at 6,800 revs per minute

Fuel injection: Lucas guillotine mechanical fuel injection

Transmission: ZF, five synchronised gears

Chassis: half-body framework in riveted and welded sheet aluminium with tubular front false chassis

Front suspension: independent on superimposed trailing arms and torsion bars

Rear suspension: independent on load-bearing half-drive shaft, internal shafts and coiled springs

Brakes: four disc brakes

Weight: 980 kg

Top speed: more than 168 mph (270 kph) with long axle assembly

[jaguargeo]

Hi all. The Lightweight noted here in the post on and by
1-20-2006, 10:28 PM #20 Jaguar D-Type vbmenu_register("postmenu_3740942", true);
AF Fanatic
is indeed rare. It has the rumored reverse induction/exhaust system and is LHD. I have never seen a picture of this car and I want to thank him for this opportunity.

[kramertron]

Here's the family 1971 XKE Series II. My father's uncle bought it from a friend of his back in the mid 70s, after about a decade of fun times the car just sat sticking out of the car port. The paint was horribly cracked after twenty plus years of baking in the Louisiana sun. Ever since my dad first saw the car it has been his dream car. So about six years ago my dad bought it off of his uncle and began restoring it. Repainted, reapulstered, and the engine was fixed by the old genius Jamaican mechanic my dad used to go to in his high school years. So here's how it looked around completion two or three years ago.





All that's left to do is get in an authentic radio.

[jaguargeo]

kramertron,

Nice ride. I may have a radio for you. Tech me.

[Jaguar D-Type]

Hatch