I thought this would make a good counterpoint to the Impala review the other day. It shows graphically what a huge gulf there was between a typical American production sedan and a sports car like the XK-E. A modern comparison with a current Impala and an F-Type would be interesting, as the gap is undoubtedly very much narrower.
nice!!! the jaguar e type is in my book, the epitome of what a sexy car is. the sexiest looking car ever made.
These are fun to watch. Odd though how much that Jag inline 6 sounds like a big Detroit V8 . . .
I have a sneaking suspicion that car and track piped in some stock sounds frequently.
There’s no question that they recycled the same sound tracks for all their tests. Especially the screeching rubber, which they toned way down for this one.
The engine sounds sound like they were taken from a stock car or a super stock dragster, you’d actually think none of these cars had factory mufflers, which is especially egregious once they started testing PLCs lol
But why?. Perhaps some of the domestic V8s were muffled and Bud had to make them sound “sexyer” but why drown out that sweet 6 cylinder Jag engine?.
Because these were shot on 16mm without sound, which back then was typical. In order to record live sound, it took an additional sound man with a boom and mike, and commonly a tape recorder, as sound and film were often synced in editing. It’s not like modern video.
Back in the film days, car sounds were almost always added in post production editing, from pre-recorded stock footage. Much easier and cheaper that way.
Keep in mind in old-school film making, even actors’ voiced were commonly dubbed in after the film was shot, recorded in a sound studio and dubbed in. Which is why lip-sync id often off.
I owned a 70 XKE and I have a lot of affection for the car. However I think you need to compare the E to a Corvette of the same vintage for a fair comparison. The Corvette would give the E plenty of problems. One interesting point in the video was the light front end at high speed. I once pushed 140 MPH and it really got all your attention.
Funny, the ponderous soundtrack reminds me of the Road Warrior.
Just waiting for Mel Gibson to come over the hill and fire a sawed off shotgun through the windshield of the Jaguar, then take the gas, mate.
I recall a Tom McCahill comment in Mechanix Illustrated magazine about the Jaguar able to give away two cylinders, 100 cubic inches and “still stomp all over a Corvette.”
What article was that? A Vette of this era was very competitive with an XKE, at least when equipped with the higher performance engines. Tom McCahill seems to be often misquoted.
Well, of course I’m relying on the cobweb memories of something I read 50+ years ago, so you have to give some leeway to the exact quote..
Come to think of it, it wasn’t a test article but a comment in his “Mail for McCahill” column circa pre-1965. Can’t remember which year.
But I’m pretty certain about the part “give away 100 cubic inches and still stomp all over a Corvette.”
I don’t know which year Corvette he was basing his off-the-cuff comment to but on the basis of the 100 cubic inch comment and a little math but I’d venture to guess McCahill was comparing a circa 1961 XKE with 3.8 to a Corvette with the 327 V-8.
Of course the later Corvettes can outperform the Jaguar from a flat out acceleration and top speed but didn’t it take brute force V-8 with significant power increase to do so? Yet the Jaguar still managed to give the Corvette a run for its money with its 6 cylinder engine.
As you see in my post below, the two highest powered 327 Vettes, performed equally or better than the XKE in a camparo test. Yes, the XKE did it with less cubes, but it was significantly lighter than the Vette, and I’d take an educated guess that it was also more aerodynamic. That comparo also concluded that in other aspects, like handling, the two cars were very close. I am sure the execution was completely different though.
Maybe the comment was in reference to straight axle Corvette, with a 283?
Until the ’69 Chev clip the other day here on CC, I had not previously encountered this Bud Lindemann character. He seems—for good and ill—to be trying for an onscreen version of Tom McCahill, though perhaps there was no such intent and the overcooked similes and such (“best thing since Bromo met Seltzer”…? Oy) were just the style of the times.
As an in-between, I like the one he did on the Avanti II.
The Avanti II was built on the original Studebaker frame, (from a strengthened Lark Convertible). Bud’s discussion talks about the hand-built quality of the front end and the coil springs, he doesn’t say whether they ever converted it from the 17-points-of-lubrication Coil, A-arm and Kingpin setup that sat underneath the front every Studebaker from ’50-’66. I assume they wouldn’t have had the money to re-engineer all that, so I guess it’s impressive that they got the car to handle as well as it does.
Especially compared to that GM barge spinning out in a simple, dry-road panic stop.
That suspension lived until 1985. In 87 and 1988 the car used a GM G body chassis. (It’s claimed that 1989-1990 Avantis used a Caprice chassis and the 1991 convertibles used a bespoke Calloway sourced chassis.)
At least, this XK-E didn’t ended stretched like the one featured in the French movie “Le Petit Baigneur” with Louis de Funès. 😉
Bud’s wardrobe is almost as awesome as the car.
2600 lbs with driver? Too heavy to race? That’s practically a feather weight compared to almost anything I grew up with.
I love those vintage road tests- thank you again.
Compared to the XKE, the Corvette of the time was an axe-wielding, beer drinking barbarian. But in ’68, a L88 Corvette would’ve given the Jaguar one heckuva challenge. Both had fairly sophisticated suspensions for the time, but the Corvette was almost six feet wide and weighed quite a bit more. On the other hand, the 435HP motor was, if anything, grossly underrated, and Zora spent quite a bit of time on the ‘Vette’s aerodynamics.
From the late 60’s through the early 70’s, the Corvette won 16 SCCA A and B production titles, and finished third at Daytona and Sebring. This was all done without official factory support, since GM officially started their racing ban in 1967.
Cliffs Notes- the Jaguar would’ve taken the Corvette in the corners, but once they hit the straights, game over.
What fun to watch, dubbed V8 soundtrack notwithstanding.
’68 was the last year for the Series 1 E-Type w/ covered headlights. “Federalized” Series II cars also came out in ’68, so it was a cross-over year for the E-Type.
A good friend has a spectacular ice blue/navy ’67 E-Type coupe he bought several years ago from the original owner in Phoenix. So utterly sensuous in every sense.
There were several comments about the XKE vs the Corvette of the day. Road Test did a comparison test between the two in 1965. They compared the XKE to all variations of the Corvette available that year. The XKE definitely had the performance edge on the 250 hp PG and the 300 hp Corvette’s. However, when compared to the L76 365 hp Vette, and the L84 375 hp FI Vette, this edge was lost. The L76 Corvette and the XKE were pretty on par for acceleration while the XKE had a higher top speed. The fuelie out accelerated and had a higher top speed than the Jag. They stated the Corvette had better brakes, and a larger interior which better accommodated tall people, while the Jag had better ride quality (less freeway hop) and was quieter.
In the end Road Test summarizes ” The top two Corvettes are a good match for the XKE in performance, comfort, convenience, handling and braking.” It ultimately states that they are both good values and that the buyers taste and personality will determine the best choice.
Pretty good summation. Before the C3 Corvette was introduced as a ’68, Zora Duntov was unhappy with the aerodynamics of the bodystyle, and spent quite a bit of time on it- the visual results are the duck tail and the large spoiler underneath the car, mounted behind the front bumper. The Corvette actually pulled air from underneath, rather than through the grill. The biggest change was that available L88 aluminum head 427. Rated at 435 HP, but I remember C&D at the time noting it would have taken something around 560HP to push that car through the wind at their observed top speed (can’t remember what it was).
Of course, the Jaguar was more refined. Sports car buyers really had some great choices- the Jaguar, the Corvette, the Porsche 911, and of course the Cobra. In terms of sheer speed, that was the car to beat… although it was as refined as a sledge hammer.
The problem with the ’68 Vette was that it initially had horrid aerodynamics, and the front end had significant lift. In these years the stylists called all the shots, and the engineers had to make it work. They ended up opening up the gills to help reduce this, and the ducktail you mention was also added. The car was better, but neither the C2 or C3 Vette’s had good aerodynamics. The first Vette with any real aerodynamics designed into it was the 1984 Vette.
The L88 was actually first available in 1967, but there were only about 20 made. It was available from 1967-69, with the most being produced in 1969. It was rated at 430 hp, five less than the tri powered L71 which had the 435 hp rating. But like you mentioned it was supposedly made something over 560 hp (gross).
The test car is not a 1968 model as glass covered headlights had been made illegal for the 1968 model year. The other thing is the triple carbs: “The dual stromberg setup was used on all Federal Spec cars from late 67 onwards.” Up until 1967 the E type used triple SUs.
I can’t see one of these without thinking of “Harold & Maude”.