Worse is knowing a woolshed held half a dozen years ago when they were worth nothing, then finding out they same guy had four more in pieces at his radiator
business he was in on the ground floor of the collector racket/
Not really in the US. The XKE nomenclature was well known; E Type only to enthusiasts who read British magazines. Ditto with Z; to me a Datsun Z, but to many in Middle America, a Z was a Z28 Camaro. And perhaps to some folks in the UK, a Zephyr or Zodiac cop car. But regardless of naming, that Jag shape is beautifully captured.
I’m no snobbish Jegyoowaaaah purist or anything, but…ugh. X-(
That said, it appears Loewy was 20 years ahead of his time, per the article: a supplemental red light activated by the brake pedal is located inside the rear window.
Whenever I see these come up here on CC, I always wondered, was there a time these were cheap ratty cars for awhile? I remember random ’70-early ’80’s detective dramas where these were used in car chases and went over cliffs, rolled, wrecked and or blown up. I think 1 was even wrecked in a “Love Bug” movie. Seemed like a waste.
I thought that when one was crashed inside a parking garage on a “Rockford” episode.
(Coked-up murderer/record producer dude)
I think it was one of them written by David Chase. (Sopranos creator)
Guess it was just a fancy car then.
Indeed these really did bottom out in the 70s. Once they got to be past 5 years many dropped into the secondary used car market. They were considered exotic and impractical. They required more and more maintenance. Combine that with a not exactly robust dealer and service and parts network. Add the temperamental reputation that they earned. I remember hearing my mother’s friends complain about the time the car spent in the shop. It was imperative that a Jaguar owner have a good Jaguar mechanic. Good Jaguar specialists weren’t common, were very busy and expensive. There was no shortage of crappy Jaguar mechanics which only made owning a Jag a worsening experience.
Add in the deteriorating state of the British auto industry and the ominous looming of the stricter emissions and safety regulations in the US which was where most XKEs were sold. It made for a huge stack of reasons to not continue to own a Jag.
It is a testimony to the greatness of the initial design that so many did survive in decent condition. Everyone loved them at first but it took no small amount of love to keep one through all of the years as tastes changed.
By the mid 70s there were lots of clapped out, roached Jags available. I stopped being very surprised to find one in a regular junkyard amidst MGs and Triumphs.
There were lots stashed in garages that weren’t being driven. By this time there was a pretty good business being done swapping out the Jag 6 cylinder for Ford and Chevy small blocks. Most famous of the swappers was “John’s Cars” or “Johns Jags” who had an ad in Hemmings for years. He would do the swap for you or sell you a pretty good kit to do it yourself.
When I was a teenager, someone who lived a couple miles from me owned an early 1971-73 V12 E Type. It was Avocado green and I never saw it move from the first time I saw it in 1973. I watched as it sat in the driveway rotting away, grass growing through cracks in the driveway around the tires as the wheels rusted and left streaks on the tires and stained the pavement. It sat there into the early 1990s and then one day it was gone.
E Types were the kind of car that people who loved them held onto long after common sense dictated getting rid of them. It was pretty easy to get your emotions involved in such a beautiful car.
E- type or XK-E, in german it’s just “E”, for compromise.
And about it TV appearence: in the 60s this Jag was driven by g- man Jerry Cotton. A series of crime movies, strarring George Nader, located in the US, but pictured in Germany. As a child I loved it.
And yes, any e-type is a beauty, but I prefer the series one with the smaller lights
I wonder who got more fan mail; Cotton or the Car?
I read that the lead actor/pretty boi Robert Ulrich in the “Vega$” tv show was miffed because the red ’57 T-bird received as much (if not more) fan mail as he did.
Autobahnraser
Posted May 18, 2021 at 12:14 PM
Good question. Interesting story about vega$, must be hard for an actor to share his fame with a car. Maybe Urich asked David Hasselhoff how to deal with that
There’s an extremely amateur, low quality YouTube video with shots of an E Type set to the song ‘No Tomorrow’ by Orson. For some reason, to me at least, the lyrics are perfect for the car. 🙂
‘There’s no line for you and me
cuz tonight we’re v.i.p.
I know somebody at the door
I see that twinkle in your eye
You shake that ass and I just die
Let’s check our coats
And move out to the floor
When I’m dancing with you
Tomorrow doesn’t matter
Turn the music up
Til the windows start to shatter
Cause you’re the only one who can get me on my feet
And I can’t even dance
Just look at me
Silly me
I’m as happy as I can be
I got a girl who thinks I rock
And tomorrow there’s no school
So let’s go drink some more red bull
And not get home til about
6 o clock
When I’m dancing with you
Tomorrow doesn’t matter
Turn that music up
Til the windows start to shatter
Cause you’re the only one who can get me on my feet
And I can’t even dance.’
Rode in one once, c. fall 1962: BRG coupe belonging to the head of my department at school. It was the how-are-you-doing-son talk, going into junior year, and I was so nervous I couldn’t enjoy the ride. I remember him checking traffic over my shoulder as I exited the car.
My friend always recalled the list price of the XK-E when it was introduced in this country: $5555. The car from outer space, from stodgy old England ! Couldn’t believe it. Later I saw the D-Jag for the first time; slightly more understandable in a car for the track—but still . . .
Wasn’t a roadster employed as a future car (along with a DS-19) in the wonderful “The Tenth Victim” (1965) ?
Very good. Like you could just walk over, get in and go.
Assuming it you can get it to start.
See: Mad Men.
Or the movie “Gumball Rally”.
I could pizz off Paul by using my “Lucas: Prince of Darkness” quote…..but I won’t.
Oops.
Was waiting for someone to make that quote. Came earlier than I hoped.
Just whack the SU fuel pump with a Whitworth wrench and you’re ready to go 🙂
if you have keys and proper paperwork. And the right gal with the picnic basket. That is one of my dreams.
Or was it better with the original tail lights?
Yes.
Nope. Later model tail lights look better.
Yes
Great photo, and the rendering in sepia monochrome is perfect!
If we were to speak its name, should we utter E-Type to XK-E? Wars have been fought over less, I’d wager.
In England, E Type. In America, XK-E. The Corvette Stingray was released a year later in 1963. It was great to be a car loving kid back then.
It sure was. Happily we didn’t know it would end in a few short years, and we’d be in the Brougham era.
….. and, speaking of names —
some years it was a ‘Stingray” and some years it was a “Sting Ray”
To see one, is to want one…….
Until you own one.
Or does it own you?
Worse is knowing a woolshed held half a dozen years ago when they were worth nothing, then finding out they same guy had four more in pieces at his radiator
business he was in on the ground floor of the collector racket/
There are only three cars that can be instantly identified by one letter. This is one of them.
Guessing Z and T… I dearly hope you’re not thinking of K!
That was my thought too, but I’d argue for the Buick Y-Job as well.
Not really in the US. The XKE nomenclature was well known; E Type only to enthusiasts who read British magazines. Ditto with Z; to me a Datsun Z, but to many in Middle America, a Z was a Z28 Camaro. And perhaps to some folks in the UK, a Zephyr or Zodiac cop car. But regardless of naming, that Jag shape is beautifully captured.
Well, it does say E-Type right on the hatch…
When someone says “Z-Car” I immediately mentally picture a 1971 Datsun (Nissan) 240 Z.
Often referred to as a much more reliable copy of a Jag E-type
I’ll make a case for A as in the Ford Model A.
The 1948 Packard Custom Eight didn’t have the name “Packard” visible anywhere on the outside of the car. So says their advertising;
Rear brake jobs are not for the faint of heart. I wonder what Firestone or Pep Boys would charge ?
I don’t know if they’d know how to get the knock off wheels off.
Also the Jag D Type if you are a real racing fan.
“It’s a handsome design. I wish it ran.”
One of the better lines from that movie.
Sex-On-Wheels.
Even “I” could get lucky driving this car.
I see Raymond Loewy “had a little work done” on his (1966):
A man needs to know his limitations.
I’m no snobbish Jegyoowaaaah purist or anything, but…ugh. X-(
That said, it appears Loewy was 20 years ahead of his time, per the article: a supplemental red light activated by the brake pedal is located inside the rear window.
Anyone can drive an XKE. It takes a real man with a snootful of Absinthe laced with Laudanum to take a chef’s knife and carve one up.
The taillights are an improvement over the series II at least. Actually I like the proportions better too.
I see Bonham’s sold the Loewy ten years ago–for $128K all in: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/19363/lot/39/
French – Parisian licence plate (75) and Panhard BT 24 headlight units ?
Whenever I see these come up here on CC, I always wondered, was there a time these were cheap ratty cars for awhile? I remember random ’70-early ’80’s detective dramas where these were used in car chases and went over cliffs, rolled, wrecked and or blown up. I think 1 was even wrecked in a “Love Bug” movie. Seemed like a waste.
Bob G: Somewhere before 1980 I noticed that they didn’t cost all that much as used cars; this is 1972, with prices that look pretty good from here:
First one equates to $16,200 in today’s dollars; second one to $22,120.
I thought that when one was crashed inside a parking garage on a “Rockford” episode.
(Coked-up murderer/record producer dude)
I think it was one of them written by David Chase. (Sopranos creator)
Guess it was just a fancy car then.
Indeed these really did bottom out in the 70s. Once they got to be past 5 years many dropped into the secondary used car market. They were considered exotic and impractical. They required more and more maintenance. Combine that with a not exactly robust dealer and service and parts network. Add the temperamental reputation that they earned. I remember hearing my mother’s friends complain about the time the car spent in the shop. It was imperative that a Jaguar owner have a good Jaguar mechanic. Good Jaguar specialists weren’t common, were very busy and expensive. There was no shortage of crappy Jaguar mechanics which only made owning a Jag a worsening experience.
Add in the deteriorating state of the British auto industry and the ominous looming of the stricter emissions and safety regulations in the US which was where most XKEs were sold. It made for a huge stack of reasons to not continue to own a Jag.
It is a testimony to the greatness of the initial design that so many did survive in decent condition. Everyone loved them at first but it took no small amount of love to keep one through all of the years as tastes changed.
By the mid 70s there were lots of clapped out, roached Jags available. I stopped being very surprised to find one in a regular junkyard amidst MGs and Triumphs.
There were lots stashed in garages that weren’t being driven. By this time there was a pretty good business being done swapping out the Jag 6 cylinder for Ford and Chevy small blocks. Most famous of the swappers was “John’s Cars” or “Johns Jags” who had an ad in Hemmings for years. He would do the swap for you or sell you a pretty good kit to do it yourself.
When I was a teenager, someone who lived a couple miles from me owned an early 1971-73 V12 E Type. It was Avocado green and I never saw it move from the first time I saw it in 1973. I watched as it sat in the driveway rotting away, grass growing through cracks in the driveway around the tires as the wheels rusted and left streaks on the tires and stained the pavement. It sat there into the early 1990s and then one day it was gone.
E Types were the kind of car that people who loved them held onto long after common sense dictated getting rid of them. It was pretty easy to get your emotions involved in such a beautiful car.
XK-E: Sex on Wheels
E- type or XK-E, in german it’s just “E”, for compromise.
And about it TV appearence: in the 60s this Jag was driven by g- man Jerry Cotton. A series of crime movies, strarring George Nader, located in the US, but pictured in Germany. As a child I loved it.
And yes, any e-type is a beauty, but I prefer the series one with the smaller lights
#IIRC Anne Francis drove one in her early 1960’s tv show “Honey West”.
Hubba HUBBAAHHH!
Car and lady.
Car and Cotton
I wonder who got more fan mail; Cotton or the Car?
I read that the lead actor/pretty boi Robert Ulrich in the “Vega$” tv show was miffed because the red ’57 T-bird received as much (if not more) fan mail as he did.
Good question. Interesting story about vega$, must be hard for an actor to share his fame with a car. Maybe Urich asked David Hasselhoff how to deal with that
Some considered the Ford the better actor of the two.
There’s an extremely amateur, low quality YouTube video with shots of an E Type set to the song ‘No Tomorrow’ by Orson. For some reason, to me at least, the lyrics are perfect for the car. 🙂
‘There’s no line for you and me
cuz tonight we’re v.i.p.
I know somebody at the door
I see that twinkle in your eye
You shake that ass and I just die
Let’s check our coats
And move out to the floor
When I’m dancing with you
Tomorrow doesn’t matter
Turn the music up
Til the windows start to shatter
Cause you’re the only one who can get me on my feet
And I can’t even dance
Just look at me
Silly me
I’m as happy as I can be
I got a girl who thinks I rock
And tomorrow there’s no school
So let’s go drink some more red bull
And not get home til about
6 o clock
When I’m dancing with you
Tomorrow doesn’t matter
Turn that music up
Til the windows start to shatter
Cause you’re the only one who can get me on my feet
And I can’t even dance.’
Rode in one once, c. fall 1962: BRG coupe belonging to the head of my department at school. It was the how-are-you-doing-son talk, going into junior year, and I was so nervous I couldn’t enjoy the ride. I remember him checking traffic over my shoulder as I exited the car.
My friend always recalled the list price of the XK-E when it was introduced in this country: $5555. The car from outer space, from stodgy old England ! Couldn’t believe it. Later I saw the D-Jag for the first time; slightly more understandable in a car for the track—but still . . .
Wasn’t a roadster employed as a future car (along with a DS-19) in the wonderful “The Tenth Victim” (1965) ?
Loved the video, rodbadr. Great to see the car being started and driven off. That’s quite a long throw to first gear, no ?