COVER STORY

JAGUAR E-TYPE

Jaguar’s stunning E-type, based on the Le Mans-winning D-type, stunned and thrilled the world in the 1960s

Jaguar is synonymous with success in the British motor industry: victory on the world’s most famous racing circuits, as well as commercial success in every market where the brand has been sold. What is the key to this achievement? “Jaguar may not be the finest car in its class in the world, but it is unquestionably the least expensive of the GOOD cars,” says a well-known British ex-racing driver.

When World War II ended, Jaguar immediately began designing and developing a series of double-overhead-camshaft engines to replace the Standard based pushrod engines that powered the remarkable 1.5-liter, 2.5-liter, and 3.5-liter types that comprised their model line at the time. The letter X was used to identify experimental engines, and the series began with XA, XB, and so on. William Heynes, their principal engineer, was not pleased until they had reached the letter K in the alphabet.

The results were initially revealed to the public in 1948, in four-cylinder and six-cylinder versions, as the XK-100 and XK-120, respectively. The four-seater Jaguar XK-120 was never sold, but the six-seater Jaguar XK-120 became an overnight sensation after R.M.V. Sutton’s demonstration run on Belgium’s Jabbeke-Ostend route, when the two-seater Jaguar XK120 was timed at 132.6 mph over a flying mile.

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The 3.8-liter engine of the XK-E is the series’ most recent update, having been in production for nearly 13 years. Its basic form hasn’t changed, and it’s fun to imagine whether the E-Type, which (with the exception of the ill-fated XK-SS) represents a Jaguar never before offered for sale to the general public, will keep its basic shape for a long time. It’ll almost certainly happen.

The E-Type is derived from the D-Type, with influences from the XK-SS and Briggs Cunningham’s 1960 Le Mans prototype. The E-Type is derived from the D-Type, with influences from the XK-SS and Briggs Cunningham’s 1960 Le Mans prototype. Some of the changes are technical advancements, while others were made to accommodate series production. There have been no sacrifices to current trend in terms of styling, and many readers will be surprised to learn that the body is not the result of extensive wind tunnel testing. The body design was created solely mathematically by Jaguar’s top aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer, and practical experience has shown that the automobile has a very low drag.

From any perspective, the automobile is stunning. The racing-style steering wheel, huge round instruments, wire wheels, and the car’s overall low construction all contribute to its businesslike appearance. The seats had a nice deep bucket shape and were very comfortable if the occupant sat in the prescribed position, albeit additional adjustment for the rake of the seat back would have been nice. The seats are quite low, and the woodrimmed three-spoked steering wheel can be adjusted for both height and reach, which helps to reduce driver fatigue significantly over time.

There’s not a lot of space around and between the pedals, and the organ-style accelerator with the suspended brake pedal makes heel-and-toe operation problematic.

The pedals are close together, which allows the clutch foot to reach the left-hand floorboard. However, more than one driver found himself braking and clutching at the same time. While the driver’s left leg can be extended almost to its full length, the vertical space in the foot compartment is limited, therefore this foot, like the passenger’s, must be splayed to fit.

Tall persons were unable to drive straight-arm due to a lack of enough seat adjustment travel. The instrumentation is more ample than usual, but storage space for trip documents,

maps, gloves, sunglasses, and other items is limited, since the cubby in front of the passenger is just big enough to carry cigarettes and matches. There are no door pockets or behind the seats shelves. The map-reading light, which is in the form of an unshielded bulb and is located in the center of the instrument panel, cannot be used while driving because it dazzles the pilot, while also being of dubious value to the passenger/navigator, who must lean over to his left to get some light on his maps. The pebble-grained aluminum background for the black-lighted circular instruments extends down to the gearbox cover and floor tunnel. It would have been preferable to extend the upholstery to cover the tunnel, which would have improved the interior’s aesthetic rather than degraded it.

With the top up, vision is as good as can be expected all around. Forward, it’s superb, with relatively thin windshield pillars and a big rear glass and well-placed rear view mirror (height-adjustable) that provide the driver an almost comprehensive image of what’s going on behind him. However,side visibility is decreased, and when joining traffic from side roads at angles less than 60 degrees, the passenger’s counsel is required.

APPETITE FOR LUBRICANT

In cold weather, the engine starts rapidly by adjusting the manual choke lever upward. Warming up quickly, its operational temperature is little over 70° Celsius, and it didn’t get much higher than that in traffic or after performance testing. The thermostatically regulated two-bladed electric fan is a revolutionary innovation that helps reduce roar and save engine power for the primary purpose of moving the automobile. The fan turns on when the temperature exceeds 80° C and turns off when it is no longer needed. The engine idled nicely at around 600 rpm, albeit it became less smooth as underhood temperatures rose, but never to the point of bucking or stalling. There were no “vapor locks,” and the water never became too hot. >>SPECIFICATIONS 1961 Jaguar E-type