Story By Michael Marter • Photos Courtesy Jaguar
There’s no modern parallel for the fervor created when Jaguar introduced the E-Type at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show. A sophisticated, achingly beautiful two-seater with Ferrari-like performance at an affordable price, the E-Type soon became an A-list fashion accessory the world over. Journalist Henry N. Manny III declared it “the greatest crumpet …
In reply to The Staff of Motorsport Marketing :with the cost of a Jaguar XKE out of the reach of your average subscriber , I think you should look for affordable alternatives.
For example I have a few fiberglass molds for a XKE roadster. It wouldn't be that hard to come up with bits and pieces to make it work like one. Maybe not a street car with all the whistles and bells but a vintage looking race car.
Either use a six cylinder 4 liter Jaguar engine. Or the GM derivative the 4.2
the hard part would be the suspension since it's so narrow.
That was a nice canoe ride.
In reply to frenchyd :
An XKE might be out of most of our price ranges, but decent MkII and 3.4 or 3.8S are more affordable and provide plenty of Jag style and performance.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
You are absolutely correct but why stop there? XJ6 or 12, XJS are also in that modest price range. While offering grace, space, and pace.
Ok I stole that from a Jaguar advertisement
In reply to frenchyd :
I have been building a lightweight XKE track car and am looking for glass fibre panels to lighten up the shell , fit wider competition wire wheels, and keep on budget. Rebuilding and reinforcing the rusty shell has been so time consuming. ( I literally think I now have a solid tube frame reinforced structure that will accept a glass fibre monocoque skin) Would you be willing to share what panels or molds you have ? Maybe there would be others interested in creating any missing molds to try and engage more participation at Jaguar club events.
In reply to JohnJag :
I had everything except the rear half from the doors back , ( including the trunk lid) if I have a ratty old pattern I can make anything. And someone gets their ratty pattern slicked up with a coat of paint and 4 coats of wax back.
To be fair, just the surface is smooth. Underneath the dents are roughed out and coated with bondo. Any holes are covered in cardboard, Bondo'd and smoothed over. To make a splash mold for a couple parts isn't hard. Production molds where more than a few parts is a whole other kettle of fish. But you can make the parts out of chopper gun( fast and heavy) hand layup of cloth (not a whole lot more expensive) or hand layup of carbon fiber. Starts to get a little expensive. It's not the lightest/ strongest because I don't use prepeg and autoclave.
I might, if it's semi decent to start with, include a part out of the mold.
Custom work to say widen the fenders in order to use wider tires probably includes some work on your part or some such trade.
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