Images from the Cohort, taken by Stanislav Alexeneyev in 2016.
I had lived in the neighborhood for a few months and was still getting acquainted with the neighbors. Just in my building, there were two additional units; in one an elderly couple, and in the other, a single old man. All were retirees. On the building next door, a reserved and discreet aging African American lady resided. Meanwhile, the neighborhood was quickly filling with younger affluent residents, who much like myself, had moved into the city to start careers in the internet and media sectors.
The hilly streets of Bernal Heights were a lovely enclave in San Francisco, though like most of the city, going through an upheaval of sorts in the ’90s. The neighborhood was quickly moving upscale, and it was easy to see why; it was surrounded by lovely views of the city, filled with charming houses, and in the mid-afternoon, one could climb to the hill, and observe from a distance the fog coming in from the bay. Neighborhoods such as Bernal were quickly being gentrified, a word I had little awareness of until then, but with which I was to become familiar soon enough.
While I constantly met the elderly tenants in my building, I rarely ever saw the widowed African American lady next door. Yet, her image has remained indelible in my memory; she had a quiet demeanor, with a properly fitting soft voice. Her wardrobe consisted of a classy mauve coat and black scarf, with thick glasses covering her face. In all, her movements had a sense of elegance and dignity, exuding a kind of old-world charm. In all the encounters I never exchanged more than a few words with her.
Some months later, I was finishing one of my casual strolls around the neighborhood. As I approached my home I saw her stepping out of her garage, and for once, she had left the doors open. I passed by slowly, greeting her, and that’s when I saw it. In the dimness of her garage, amongst boxes and other clutter, there it was; the lovely shape of a neglected deep blue Jaguar E-Type. I tried to keep my composure (not sure I succeeded), but needless to say, my heart started pumping rapidly. An E-Type had been next door to me all that time?
In the case of the E-Type, I’m no different from many; I find its shape incredibly alluring. And it’s got that one special characteristic: I remember exactly the first time I ever saw one. In my case, it was while watching Gene Wilder’s and Richard Prior’s Silver Streak sometime in the early ’80s. The appearance of that feline shape, moving at speed on the screen, was an unforgettable moment. “What in the world is that?” I said to myself. I fell in love at first sight.
Needless to say, I was never able to walk by the old lady’s house quite the same way. Somewhere in the back of my head, the idea remained “Behind these doors… there’s a Jaguar E-Type!” It was as if I knew of some sacred object, hidden from the eyes of mere mortals.
I never got the back story on the car, but I always assumed it must have belonged to her deceased husband. By the time I left the city 8 years later, the car remained there, unmoved. No idea of its eventual fate, but considering the value E-Types acquired by the turn of the century, I like to think that someone went through the trouble of saving it.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: Jaguar XK-E Series II – The Stuff Of Dreams, The Source Of Nightmares
The XK-E has always been my most favorite car. Ever!
I lived in a council estate in West Belfast during the Troubles and a neighbour’s son had a nice red ’64 E-type that was parked in the street without any issues. Expensive cars often tumbled in value because of the running costs so to see them slumming it was not unusual. The best was the Alvis TD-21 slowly turning to rust as the owner couldn’t afford the bespoke parts.
Lovely cars .
I foolishly declined buying two at different times for $1,500 each…..
The was a movie with….Paul ? (a Mexican Comedian) where they made a low rider out of an E-Typ FHC with fur on the dash and working hydraulics, it was for sale cheaply (under $5K) after the movie came out .
-Nate
There are usually lots of non operative and forgotten cars stashed away in urban locations, but it takes something special to really register. There was an E Type coupe like the green one pictured, a mile or so from my parents house. I noticed it back in the late 70’s. It was parked in the driveway of a house under a cover. One day the wind blew the cover off and there it was. For the next ten years I looked at it every time I passed by. A series of covers weathered away until the car wasn’t covered at all. Then one day it was gone.
Just around the corner from my folk’s house someone had a bright orange red Jaguar XJS coupe parked at the curb. It was driven for a time, until it wasn’t. It sat at the curb for almost a year before it was gone. Years later as a former XJS owner, I understood completely.
There was a time when the E type wasn’t worth very much, compared to Today, but still higher than the average old car. When I was in JC in the mid 70’s, there was a pretty nice convertible for sale in the student parking lot. Asking price 1,000 dollars. That was three times what I paid for my ’66 Mustang and twice what I paid for my Kawasaki Mach Three.
Knowing what I know now, it’s just as well that I didn’t try to stretch to buy it.
I think the roadster is beautiful, but I’m not a fan of the coupe, although I think it’s better than the 2+2. I think the windshield and roof are too high and it throws off the proportions with the taller greenhouse.
+1 My thoughts, exactly. The too upright 1950s style windshield, always unnecessarily dated the design for me.
I prefer these alloy knock-off wheels to the wire wheels. They make it look more like the D-type/XKSS; more of a serious sports-racer look.
Absolutely agree with this comment. First thing I noticed in the photo was what I thought were D-Type wheels. The otherwise impressive man’s coupe E-Type just looks delicate with wire wheels. The wheels used above make the car purposeful – good for a long day’s drive from London to Basel.
A good story on why it’s best to not to judge a book by its cover. Perhaps this Jaguar E-Type was San Francisco’s equivalent of Detroit’s Black Ghost. The ghost was thought to be an urban legend for decades but years later it’s existence was finally reveled. Of course this is just my free association but one never knows a cars full story until the owner can tell it or write it down.
Hard top E-Types are true beauties.
Ahhh the black ghost, that’s been totally busted as an expensive but totally factory stock Challenger. Any street racer with minor speed shop mods would’ve trounced it, let alone some of the more serious street racers with heavily modified machines. The story was embellished to get top dollar at Mecum.
A family straddled with high medical debt is allowed to embellish the story for as much as they could get in my opinion. True that any stock car even a very fast one can usually be beat by a modded car. All they would have needed to do is slap on some nitrous and be done with it. It’s the story about a renegade black traffic cop that went against the very laws he was enforcing because of his inner speed demon. He was a Black Bullitt of sorts.
CC effect. Saw this E Type in Campbell River this week, with Alberta plates. But probably brought over in a trailer.
Seen lots of very interesting cars at this hotel over the years.
Driving down Chapel St Melbourne in the mid 90’s, I followed a D-type for a block. I was surprised at how big it seemed, definitely larger than any E-type I’d seen. And that big shiny diff/suspension set up that hot rodders dug. Too much…..Oh and I love how Americans call em XK-E’s, just like Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys.
Hurricane Ian knocked down lots of fences and peeled off some car covers, so I got a temporary view into neighbors’ yards. Perhaps the coolest car I had never paid any attention to was a silver Avanti sinking in the sand in a yard nearby. I was tempted to knock on the door but never did. It’s still sitting there, under a new cover.
I traded a ’57 Olds Super 88 convertible for a ’68 Jag E-type fhc (short coupe) with 38k miles in 1986, color: Wedgwood (light) Blue, with Navy interior. A lovely but temperamental car. Still, should have kept that one, imo the short coupe was the prettiest version of all. Try to buy one now!
My friend when we moved to Burlington the first time in 1965 was the youngest of 3 brothers, their father ran the local newspaper and I guess they were pretty well off, they lived at the end of our street which dead-ended at railroad tracks which paralleled Lake Champlain (don’t think they’re there anymore). We moved back to Vermont 10 years later but to Shelburne rather than Burlington (parents left there 41 years ago in their last move, they’d moved frequently up to that point due to the nature of my Dad’s job.
Anyhow, his older brothers had very nice cars…one had a Mercedes sedan of some type (didn’t know Mercedes back then so not sure of the model) and the other an XKE Never rode in it but admired it. The odd thing to me was the back was a door, rather than a hatch. Most times when you have such a raked rear backlite you’d have hatch with strut assists, but this was a door…wonder how hard it was to open/keep open, but I suppose that’s secondary if you bought an XKE, figuring out how to load cargo probably wasn’t your primary concern. I can’t see the latch on this one, so maybe not all of them had doors. To me the Mercedes looked like an old car (they didn’t have the sleek styling in the 60’s and the pronounced radiator made it more so) especially next to the Mercedes…I think they parked them outdoors. Our house had a 1 car garage, which was fine when we moved there in 1965 since we only had 1 car, but then Dad bought the Beetle, having fewer choices of where to park it led to its demise when it had to be parked in the street in front of our house. Don’t recall if their home had a multi-car garage or not back then. It would have been even more of an indulgence given how quickly cars rusted up there, especially in the 60’s before metal was better treated at the factory.
Don’t know which one of them, but they ended up hitting my Dad’s ’59 Beetle parked in front of our street and totalling it…which is when Dad bought a new ’68 Renault R10 to replace it. Not sure if the road conditions were slippery when it happened, but we didn’t live on a hill but a flat section of the (pretty long) street.
Never have seen an XKE since that.
I’ll see an E every couple of years. They were gorgeous cars, IMO one of the prettiest ever. But now with the wheels so far inset they look awfully old.
Back in the 70s I knew a guy with one. I think he’s had one or two before that one. Anyway, it was parked outside, out in the country. He took a job for a year in Saudi Arabia to make a ton of money. It was a wet winter, very wet. I checked on it onetime and it was full of water inside, up to the doorsills. Every surface inside was moldy. I’m sure it got scrapped, they had little value back then. Sad sight though.
Mike ;
That reminds me :
Why, when Brittany rules the waves, will her cars not go through a puddle ? .
I may love me some L.B.C.’s like mad but I don’t have rose colored glasses .
-Nate