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- Herausgeber: Crowood
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
This book tells the fascinating, and sometimes frustrating, story of the journey from the iconic Jaguar E-type to its successor, the F-type. With nearly 300 photographs, it documents the evolution of the F-type from the Pininfarina XJ Spider through Jaguar's own XJ41/42, XX and XK180. It reviews the whole range of F-type convertible and coupe models and discusses the wild Project 7 and the latest turbo-charged four-cylinder cars. The special vehicles produced for Team Sky and Bloodhound SSC are included along with a useful chapter on buying an F-type. Finally, the book considers the F-type's future in a changing automotive world.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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Jaguar F-Type
THE COMPLETE STORY
ANDREW NOAKES
First published in 2020 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2020
© Andrew Noakes 2020
All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 78500 732 3
AcknowledgementsIn telling the story of the F-types I have been able to call upon numerous excellent sources of information and images. The authors of contemporary press reports are too numerous to mention, but I thank them all for the insight and context they bring to the tale. Ian Callum generously gave me his time to talk about the Aston Martin DB7 and its genesis from the abortive Jaguar XJ41/42 F-type for a previous Crowood book. Richard Towns, Ed Superfon and Michael Gulett kindly provided images of the Owen Sedanca, Bertone Pirana and Raymond Loewy E-type respectively. Former Jaguar men Martin Broomer, Keith Helfet, César Pieri and Martin Joyce provided input on the XJ41/42, XK180, F-type/X600 and Project 7. Ex-Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis provided personal recollections of his work on earlier Jaguar sports cars, and journalist Ray Hutton filled in some gaps on the Pininfarina XJ Spider. Other vital input and assistance came from Steve Cropley and Max Adams at Autocar, James Taylor at CAR, car design lecturer Aamer Mahmud at Coventry University, Tony Merrygold at Jaguar Heritage, and Adam Price at Tom Lenthall Ltd. My thanks to each of them for the information, encouragement, corrections and suggestions they have provided.
CONTENTS
TIMELINE
1974
E-type production ends
1975
XJ-S unveiled
1978
Pininfarina XJ Spider unveiled at the Birmingham International Motor show
1980
XJ40 saloon project approved
1990
XJ41/42 project cancelled
1996
XK8 introduced
1998
XK180 concept
2000
F-type concept
2011
C-X16 concept
2012
F-type unveiled at the Paris motor show
2013
F-type Coupé and V8 R, Project 7 concept
2014
F-type AWD models
2015
Project 7 production car
2016
F-type SVR
2017
F-type facelift, 400 Sport and R-Dynamic models; F-type 4-cylinder
2019
Revised F-type announced
INTRODUCTION
How do you replace an icon? It’s a question Jaguar struggled with for more than forty years, from the final days of the seminal E-type in the early 1970s right through to the second decade of the twenty-first century.
With the E-type, Jaguar had created a sports car with an enduring appeal thanks to its combination of dramatic looks, searing performance and extraordinary value. But producing a successor proved to be difficult. The XJ-S of 1975 was a very different kind of car, more aimed at providing comfort and refinement in long-distance fast cruising than at delivering the keen responses demanded by an enthusiastic driver. Though there were several proposals over the years for genuine Jaguar sports cars in the E-type mould, both from within Jaguar and from external designers, it took until 2012 for a genuine successor to finally appear.
This book traces the journey Jaguar took to the production F-type, along the way examining the iconic status of the E-type, and looking at the cars down the years that might have become the F-type but never quite made the grade. Just as there are numerous candidates to be called the fifth Beatle, there’s a surprisingly long list of cars and concepts that could, and in some cases perhaps should, have assumed the F-type mantle. Jaguar’s own XJ-S and Pininfarina’s XJ Spider concept are both on that list, alongside a number of abortive concept machines and the XK production cars. Then, of course, there is the F-type itself, in concept form and finally as a production reality.
It’s a fascinating story, not just because of the variety of machinery involved and the twists and turns of the development processes, but also because the trials and tribulations, and the ultimate success of the F-type idea, dovetail with the wider story of Jaguar as a marque. Its struggles as part of the ill-fated British Leyland combine, followed by its independence and renewal and stability, first under Ford’s ownership and later under Tata’s, are mirrored in the early uncertainty over what an F-type should be, and the eventual realization of a worthy successor to the brand’s most famous car.
CHAPTER ONE
FORERUNNERS: BEFORE THE F-TYPE
The road to the Jaguar F-type was full of twists and turns, and they started right at the beginning of the story. This was because the company that became Jaguar started out building something other than cars, and the man who was the driving force behind it originally had a passion not for motor cars, but for motorbikes.
William Lyons was born in Blackpool, on the north-west coast of England, in 1901. His father, also William, was an Irish immigrant who ran a music shop. William junior was not much of a scholar, but was encouraged by his father to join Crossley Motors in Manchester at the age of sixteen as an engineering apprentice. Crossley built fine cars, and during World War I, its chassis formed the basis for military trucks and ambulances.
William Lyons in the 1920s astride a Harley-Davidson 11-F motorcycle. The bike appears to be prepared for speed, with no headlamp or speedo, and lowered handlebars.JAGUAR
But Lyons was not happy at Crossley, and in 1919 he joined Brown and Mallalieu, a motor car dealer at the Metropole Garage in Josiah Street, Blackpool, as a junior salesman. He had an aptitude for the work, and it allowed him to indulge on the side in his passion for motorcycles. Lyons was already trading in two-wheelers, and by the time he was twenty he had owned examples of many different marques, including Sunbeam, Indian, Norton and Harley-Davidson.
It was good fortune, then, that in 1921 William Walmsley moved into King Edward Avenue, close to where Lyons lived, and began rebuilding army surplus motorcycles for civilian use. He also designed a sidecar with octagonal bodywork in polished aluminium, which he offered for sale at £28. In an era when a sidecar body was either a large wicker basket or something with an alarming resemblance to a tin bath, Walmsley’s streamlined aluminium model was new and exciting. Lyons bought one, and spotted its potential straight away.
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS
Lyons and Walmsley were soon working together. Lyons envisaged production on a much grander scale than Walmsley’s rate of one a week, and this necessitated moving into larger premises. With a £1,000 bank loan guaranteed by their respective fathers, Lyons and Walmsley set up at Bloomfield Road in Blackpool. Lyons was still twenty and too young to enter into a legal business agreement, but shortly after his twenty-first birthday he formed an official partnership with Walmsley and the Swallow Sidecar Company was born.
The Swallow Sidecar Company
Lyons had already demonstrated the aptitude for salesmanship and business acumen that were to be notable throughout his career, and now he showed another trait that would serve him well down the years – as a showman. When Swallow went to the Motorcycle Show in London in November 1922 to display its sidecars, Lyons and Walmsley rode bikes to London with the sidecars attached. But these were not just any bikes – they were Brough Superiors, the finest British motorcycles of the day.
Swallow Model 4 Super Sports sidecar from 1928, fitted to a 1925 Brough Superior SS80. William Walmsley’s sidecars were very modern for their time and sold well.AUTHOR
Swallow’s sidecars sold well, and the company expanded into larger premises in Cocker Street, Blackpool, to cope with demand. It was there that Swallow branched out to build special bodywork for cars, initially the popular Austin Seven. At £175 the Austin Seven Swallow was a stylish and individual small car at a bargain price, and it was a huge success.
As the company continued to grow it became obvious that a location closer to the manufacturing centre of the British motor industry in the Midlands would be advantageous. Shortening the lines of communication with suppliers and the journeys between their factories and the Swallow works would cut costs and improve production flexibility. So in 1928 what was by then the Swallow Coachbuilding Company moved 130 miles south from Blackpool to the city of Coventry, already regarded as the centre of the British motor industry. They took up residence in a former munitions factory off Holbrook Lane in Foleshill, a couple of miles north of the city centre.
SS Cars
Swallow became a proper car maker thanks to the support of another Coventry-based automotive company: Standard. The Standard Motor Company supplied Lyons and Walmsley with engines, transmissions and chassis for the SS1, the first car that was a genuine Swallow product, rather than a bespoke body for a car made by someone else. The SS1 was announced at the London motor show in 1931 and had attractive, rakish lines – but it was not a performance car. Rather, Lyons had spotted a gap in the market for a car offering fine styling and value for money, and it proved to be another success for the fledgling firm. By now Walmsley was happy with what Swallow had achieved and had no real ambitions to do more, but Lyons wanted to go further. He created a new company, SS Cars, and bought out Walmsley’s share to become sole managing director.
An SS1 saloon at the 2014 Salon Privé event. The SS1 was the first complete car built by SS.
In 1935 SS introduced its first proper sports car, the two-seat SS90, but like previous SS models, it was still more about styling than performance. To address this William Heynes was brought in from Hillman to be chief engineer, and engine expert Harry Weslake was engaged to redesign the Standard engine. Weslake produced an overhead valve layout with a crossflow cylinder head, and in this form the engine developed 102bhp, a massive leap from the Standard’s 70bhp. The revised engine went into a new saloon car called the SS Jaguar, and then into the sports car to produce the SS Jaguar 100. In 3½-litre form this car was capable of 100mph (160km/h) – quite something for the 1930s. Finally Lyons had built a car with genuinely impressive performance to match the stunning styling that had always been an SS hallmark.
But the SS sports cars were not in production for long. With the onset of war in 1939 private car production was stopped, and SS turned its manufacturing facilities over to the production of aircraft components, including centre fuselage sections for the new Gloster Meteor, the first British jet fighter. But the war years were not entirely devoid of car-making activity – in fact two key decisions were taken by Lyons during this period which would have far-reaching effects for the company after the war.
The first came when John Black told Lyons in 1942 that Standard would be making a new range of engines after the war and would no longer supply SS with the existing units. Spotting the chance to become self-sufficient, Lyons immediately offered to buy all the tooling and equipment necessary to manufacture the existing engines. As soon as the deal was struck he had trucks and workmen at Standard’s Canley factory ready to remove all the equipment and take it to Foleshill before Black, a famously moody and capricious operator, could change his mind.
The SS100 established Lyons’ reputation for stunning looks and high performance at a good price.
As it turned out Black did indeed think twice, realizing too late that he had seriously curtailed the range of engines that Standard could now build for itself. ‘It wasn’t long before Black proposed that we should revert to the previous arrangement, and return the plant to Standard,’ said Lyons in a paper he presented to the Institute of the Motor Industry in 1969. ‘He pressed me very hard, even to the extent of suggesting that we should form a separate company together.’ When Black suggested Lyons return the engine tooling to Standard, Lyons is said to have replied: ‘No thank you, John, I have got the ball now, and I would rather kick it myself.’
The XK Engine
But while Lyons took the opportunity to secure the supply of engines for the short term, he was also looking at the long-term future of his company. That meant a new, more powerful engine, one that started to take shape during the war years. SS staff were among many workers across Coventry who took turns to ‘fire watch’ at night, and Lyons saw to it that chief engineer Heynes and engine designers Walter Hassan and Claude Baily were on watch at the same time, so they could spend the time discussing the new engine. In-line and V engines with 4, 6, 8 and 12 cylinders were all considered during these long night-time vigils, but eventually Heynes and his team opted for an in-line 6-cylinder unit. The result was the XK engine, a 3442cc motor with double overhead camshafts, opposed valves and hemispherical combustion chambers, which made its debut in 1948.
A NEW MARQUE: JAGUAR CARS
By then another important decision had been made. During the war the Nazi political police, the Schutzstaffel, had given the initials ‘SS’ connotations that Lyons must have been keen to avoid. The SS was, he later commented, ‘a sector of the community that was not highly regarded’. So in 1945 SS Cars adopted the name of its most famous models to become Jaguar Cars, and a new marque was born. The pre-war SS Jaguar 1½-litre, 2½-litre and 3½-litre saloons were relaunched after the war carrying just the Jaguar name – but behind-the-scenes work was under way on the new MkV Jaguar saloon to take the rebranded company into the 1950s.
Just before the outbreak of war a new independent front suspension had been developed to replace the beam axle and leaf springs of the Standard-based cars. Coil springs and oil/air struts were investigated, but eventually Heynes and Walter Hassan settled on a double wishbone layout with the bottom wishbone splined to a longitudinal torsion bar spring that was anchored at the bottom of the front bulkhead, the strongest part of the structure. When development resumed in earnest after the war, a new chassis was drawn up with deep box-section side members, giving great strength, with a cross-shaped brace to ensure a high degree of torsional stiffness.
The XK120
By early 1948, work on the chassis was well advanced – but the XK engine was not yet ready for volume production, and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Jaguar. Lyons realized that the new engine could be used in a low-volume sports car, which could trial the motor among enthusiastic buyers who would tolerate any problems more readily than would Jaguar’s saloon customers. The new sports car would also generate plenty of interest – but there was little time to get it ready if it was to be on show at the first post-war London motor show at Earls Court in October 1948.
The XK120 of 1948 introduced the twin-cam engine that would power Jaguars for the next half-century.JAGUAR
To form the basis of the sports car the MkV chassis was shortened and narrowed, which made it naturally stiffer. That meant the substantial cruciform bracing of the saloon chassis could be replaced by a simple box-section cross-member. Suspension, brakes and steering were all carried over from the saloon. The body that covered the mechanicals was, as ever, designed under Lyons’ personal control, and introduced a new and much more modern style to Jaguar’s cars, with the wings integrated into the body for the first time. Reputedly from first sketch to finished metal took just two weeks.
The resulting car, the XK120, was the star of the London motor show. To a country starved of much in the way of good news, and downtrodden from years of scrimping, saving and rationing, it was an extraordinary statement of the capability of British industry and the future of the country. Not only did this new sports car look impossibly fast and exotic, it also promised a top speed of 120mph (193km/h) and was offered at the astonishingly low price of £998 before tax.
Jaguar had planned a short production run using hand-built aluminium alloy bodies, but received so many orders during the show that genuine series production was a necessity, and a deal was quickly done with Pressed Steel to supply steel panels. The first XK120s did have alloy bodies, as they were built while the tooling for the steel body was still being made. Early road tests were resoundingly positive, praising the performance and the exceptional ride quality, though there was criticism for the cramped cabin, and the combination of all-enveloping bodywork and steel disc wheels reduced air flow to the drum brakes, causing them to fade.
In May 1949 an XK120 appeared at the Jabbeke-Aeltre highway to prove it could really achieve 120mph (193km/h). Test driver Ron ‘Soapy’ Sutton recorded 126.448mph (203.5km/h) with the roof up, then with no roof or windscreen he achieved 132.596mph (213.4km/h). In 1950 Leslie Johnson and Stirling Moss averaged 107mph (172km/h) over twenty-four hours at Montlhéry in France, and Johnson returned the following year to cram 131 miles (211km) into an hour. In 1951 Jaguar introduced a two-seat fixed-head coupé XK120 and a Special Equipment model with stiffer suspension, higher-lift camshafts and a straight-through exhaust to generate a claimed 181bhp. Wire wheels also became an option, reducing brake fade by improving air flow.
Though too heavy for racing, the XK120 was ideally suited to rallies, where strength and reliability mattered more. Ian Appleyard’s car, with the registration number NUB120, won the first ever Alpine Rally Gold Cup for three consecutive penalty-free runs, a feat only ever equalled by two other drivers. Appleyard’s co-driver was his wife Patricia (née Lyons), daughter of Jaguar’s founder. NUB120 is now one of the many iconic cars in the Jaguar Heritage Trust fleet based at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon.
In 1952 an XK120 fixed-head ran non-stop for seven days and nights at Montlhéry, covering almost 17,000 miles (27,000km) at an average of just over 100mph (160km/h). At Jabbeke in 1953 Norman Dewis recorded 142mph (229km/h) over a flying kilometre in a Special Equipment XK120 fitted with an aero screen, and later that year in a tuned XK120 fitted with a Perspex bubble canopy he recorded over 172mph (277km/h). ‘That was a cracker,’ Dewis told me in 2017. ‘I was under a Perspex bubble, but the only thing was, they screwed the bubble down when I was in the car, and there was no bloody way I could have got out if I got into trouble.’
NUB120 is probably the most famous XK120 of all. In this car Ian Appleyard won the first Alpine Rally gold cup for unpenalized runs in three consecutive years.JAGUAR
RACING JAGUARS – C-TYPE, D-TYPE AND XJ13
The XK120C (C for competition) or C-type was built specifically for racing. The engine was a tuned version of the existing XK unit, but the chassis was all new, a multi-tube frame that was lighter than the XK120’s ladder chassis, though more expensive to make. Jaguar entered three cars for the 1951 Le Mans 24-hour race, and while two retired, the third car, driven by Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead, won the race.
The XK120C or ‘C-type’ was the first Jaguar purpose-built for racing.JAGUAR
Birth of the D-type: Tony Rolt in XKD401, the first car, at Le Mans testing in 1954.JAGUAR
The D-type, designed to win at Le Mans, introduced aircraft construction principles.
XJ13, here with Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis, was a spectacular V12-engined racer, but it arrived too late to be competitive.JAGUAR
For 1952 Jaguar revised the C-types with low-drag bodywork and revised cooling, but all three cars retired with engine failures. The C-types were back to form in 1953, winning the race again and at record speed, in part due to the fitment of disc brakes for the first time. But the win came in curious circumstances: drivers Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt were disqualified after their car carried the wrong number during a practice session. Fortunately Jaguar team manager ‘Lofty’ England eventually persuaded the organizers to relent, but legend has it that the drivers had already repaired to a local bar to drown their sorrows. Hamilton started the race having been judged the soberer of the pair, and hot coffee was provided at pit stops…
For 1954 Jaguar developed the D-type, again using a development of the XK engine but in a completely different structure based on aircraft principles. The main part was a stressed-skin tub, to which a tubular subframe was bolted to carry the engine and front suspension. The body shape created by aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer aimed to minimize drag on the long Mulsanne straight at Le Mans, where they proved significantly quicker than the rival Ferraris in 1954. But engine problems denied Jaguar another victory until 1955, when Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb won after the Mercedes-Benz team withdrew following the accident that killed Pierre Levegh and more than eighty spectators.
The D-type won Le Mans twice more, in 1956 and 1957, in the hands of the Scottish privateer team Écurie Écosse. The D-type did the job it was intended to do – win at Le Mans – but it was never very successful on other circuits, as its handling was inferior to the Ferraris and Aston Martins.
‘We’d drive the cars to Le Mans, win the race and drive them back,’ recalled test driver Norman Dewis years later. ‘After Le Mans at four o’clock on Sunday when we won, Sir William would just walk over and say, “Well done Dewis”. That’s all you got.’
Jaguar then took a break from racing as a factory team, but it did build a small number of lightweight E-type racing cars in the mid-1960s, before developing the XJ13 in 1965. This mid-engined,V12-powered car was first mooted in 1960, but by the time it was ready in 1966 Ford had already stolen a march with the mid-engined GT40, and the XJ13 was mothballed. It was nearly destroyed in an accident during a demonstration run at MIRA in 1971, but was rebuilt and survives.
The XK140
In 1953 a drop-head coupé with an easy-to-erect, fully lined folding roof was added to the range, and then for 1954 the XK120 was replaced by the XK140, which introduced heavy, MkVII-style bumpers with substantial over-riders to satisfy the North American market, upgraded headlamps, and a mildly reworked front end. The engine and front bulkhead were pushed forward, and batteries relocated from behind the seats into the engine bay, to improve cabin space. The dashboard was also raised slightly to make entry and exit easier. The engine now had a little more power, and there was the option of Laycock de Normanville overdrive – bringing more relaxed cruising and underlining the gradual shift in the XK’s character from an out-and-out sports car to a fast grand touring machine. The XK120’s recirculating ball steering was replaced by a rack-and-pinion system adapted from the C-type competition car.
XK140 was a refined version of the XK120 with better brakes, steering and suspension, and more interior space.JAGUAR
The XK150
The XK140 sold even faster than the XK120 had done, finding nearly 9,000 buyers in little more than two years. In 1957 it was replaced by the XK150, which updated styling that was now looking a little old-fashioned, and added disc brakes, developed for the racing Jaguars, to finally cure the brake fade problems. The standard engine now developed 190bhp, and there was a Special Equipment version with larger exhaust valves offering 210bhp, and later an XK150S with ‘straight port’ head and triple carburettors. Ultimately the XK150 was available with a 265bhp 3.8-litre engine. Virtually the same engine went into the XK150’s replacement in 1961, but this was more than just another iteration on the theme of the XK120. Instead, Jaguar introduced a new generation of sports car based very much on its successful D-type racing machine.
The XK150 replaced the XK140 in 1957, offering more power and better passenger accommodation than ever.JAGUAR
Jaguar E-Type (1961) Specifications
Chassis and body
TypeSteel monocoque chassis/body with front subframe; open two-seater, fixed-head two-seater, or fixed-head two-plus-twoEngine
LocationFront engine, longitudinalBlock materialIronHead materialAluminium alloyCylinders6, in lineCoolingWaterLubricationWet sumpBore × stroke87 × 106mmCapacity3781ccMain bearingsSevenValves/operation2 valves per cylinder, twin chain-driven overhead camshaftsCompression ratio9:1Fuel system3 × SU HD8 carburettorsMaximum power265bhp gross at 5,500rpmMaximum torque260lb/ft (353Nm) at 4,000rpmTransmissionRear-wheel drive; Moss four-speed manual gearboxSuspension and steering
FrontDouble wishbones, torsion bars, telescopic dampers and anti-roll barRearLower wishbones, fixed-length drive shafts, twin coil springs with concentric dampersSteeringRack and pinionBrakesFront: solid discsRear: solid discs, inboard Servo assistedDimensions
Length4,445mm (175in)Width1,651mm (65in)Height1,219mm (48in)Wheelbase2,438mm (96in)Unladen weight1,270kg (2,800lb)Performance
Top speed241km/h (152mph)Acceleration0–60mph: 7.2secNorman Dewis takes to the MIRA banking in a pre-production E-type around 1960. Production cars were not quite capable of the 150mph (240km/h) that Jaguar liked to claim.JAGUAR
THE JAGUAR E-TYPE
The result was the E-type, and it caused an even bigger sensation on its launch at the Geneva motor show in March 1961 than the XK120 had at Earls Court thirteen years earlier. Like its forebear, it had remarkable styling – a development of the low-drag D-type shape – and extraordinary performance. Jaguar claimed this new machine could top 150mph (241km/h), which meant it was the fastest road-going production car in the world. Only Jaguar could build such a rapid machine with such exciting lines, and yet put it on sale with a price of just £2,000 – not cheap, but still half the price of a Ferrari.
It was based on a stressed-skin tub similar to the D-type’s, and was fitted with a triple-carb XK engine like the last of the XK150s, but the E-type incorporated new technology in the shape of independent rear suspension. Effectively this was a double-wishbone design with a fixed-length driveshaft acting as the top link. The rear disc brakes were mounted inboard, minimizing unsprung weight to improve ride and handling (though at the expense of more difficult maintenance). The layout was shared with the 420G and S-type saloons, and adopted on new Jaguars for many years to come. It gave an excellent ride and traction, and made most of the E-type’s rivals look very old-fashioned.
William Lyons faces the press with the new E-type in Geneva in March 1961.JAGUAR
The E-type was available in two forms: as an open-top roadster, and a sleek fastback coupé. Both were beautiful, with gently curving organic forms and a startling lack of ornamentation. Even the narrow front and rear tracks seemed to work for the E-type, making the body appear to float off the ground, when for many other cars they would have just looked weak. Enzo Ferrari, who had already been responsible for a few good-looking cars, said the Jaguar was the most beautiful car in the world. In truth, neither open nor closed E-types could quite hit the promised 150mph (241km/h) in production form, and the cars that motoring journalists drove were carefully prepared to ensure that they could actually reach the magic figure. But as well as praise for the E-type’s prodigious speed – whatever its true maximum was – there were also brickbats for the restricted leg room and the slow, ponderous change of the Moss gearbox.
The E-type quickly became the car to be seen in. The first private owner of an E-type was French actor Jacques Charrier, husband of Brigitte Bardot, and many other entertainers had E-types, including George Harrison of The Beatles, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Roy Orbison, Diana Ross, Tommy Steele, radio DJ Tony Blackburn, writer/director Bryan Forbes, and actors Charlton Heston,Tony Curtis and Rex Harrison.
77RW was one of the E-types displayed in Geneva in 1961, and was later road-tested by motoring journalists.JAGUAR
Peter Sellers gave then-girlfriend Britt Eckland a red E-type roadster in 1967, and twice a week the closing credits of the BBC television talk show Dee Time showed host Simon Dee driving away from the studio in a white E-type. Footballer George Best, racing drivers Mike Hailwood and Bruce McLaren, and land speed record-holder Donald Campbell all had E-types too – among many other famous faces. The E-type became inextricably associated with the glamour and freedom of the 1960s, as much an icon of the decade as Twiggy, Apollo, or Andy Warhol’s soup tins.
E-TYPE DEVELOPMENTS
In 1963 Jaguar built a dozen lightweight E-types for racing. The body panels were aluminium alloy rather than steel, and all the cars were roadsters with alloy hard tops. The suspension was stiffer, and there were Dunlop alloy wheels like those used on the D-type. The engine had an alloy block instead of the iron block of production XK engines, and had dry-sump lubrication. Using three Weber side-draught carburettors, or Lucas mechanical fuel injection, there was around 300bhp available, delivered through a close-ratio four-speed gearbox, or later a ZF five-speed. The lightweights proved to be competitive with Ferrari’s 250GTOs, but they arrived just as GT racing was following the trend set by single-seater racing to mid-engined cars, and soon the E-types were outclassed in anything other than minor club events.
The road-going E-types were modified with a new floor to improve cabin space, and in 1964 the E-type adopted a 4.2-litre engine for more torque, together with a new Jaguar gearbox that offered a smoother change.
In 1966 Jaguar was taken over by the British Motor Corporation. BMC had already bought Pressed Steel, which supplied body panels to Jaguar, so the merger was really the only way Jaguar could guarantee supplies of vital components. Two years later, at the behest of the Labour government, the group merged with Leyland to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation.
By then Jaguar had added a 2+2 coupé to the range, with a longer wheelbase and higher roofline to provide space for two rear passengers, and had given the whole E-type range an update. There were open, rather than cowled, headlamps, rocker switches in place of toggle switches, new seats and twin cooling fans – most of the changes being driven by regulations and customer demands in the US market. These ‘Series 1½’ cars were quickly supplanted by the Series 2, which introduced a larger front air intake to allow for the installation of air conditioning, plus larger and repositioned indicators. US-market cars were also detuned to meet stringent emissions regulations, using twin Stromberg carburettors instead of triple Sus: this resulted in a power loss of around 20bhp.
A New Engine: The V12
Jaguar’s solution for the dwindling power output of the E-type – in the face of US muscle cars with ever greater power – was to introduce a new engine. Since the 1950s Jaguar had been considering a V12, and a 5.0-litre V12 race engine with double overhead cams per bank was built for the XJ13 in the 1960s. So now the V12 layout was back on the agenda as the optimum format for a large-capacity road-car engine that could deliver the power needed to restore the performance of the E-type to acceptable levels, and go on to power Jaguar saloons for years to come.
The new V12 was very different to the race engine. It adopted flat-faced cylinder heads with Heron combustion chambers sunk into the piston crowns, and on each bank of cylinders the valves were operated by a single chain-driven overhead camshaft. With a capacity of 5.3 litres in production form the engine delivered 295bhp in European specification, and at least 240bhp for the USA, depending on specification. Norman Dewis recalled its first road trials:
The V12 was an incredible engine. Wally Hassan had done all the work on a test bed and got the engine ready. The idea was that we were going to introduce it in the E-type, but unfortunately they hadn’t got the E-type chassis modified ready to take the V12 so it stood in the shop for two weeks. In those days we didn’t like a job hanging about, and one evening I was in the workshop and there was a MkX with the engine out, and I thought ‘I wonder if the V12 would go in there’. I got my tape measure out of the office and worked out that if we moved the engine mountings three inches forward we could get the V12 in. The following morning I talked to Phil Weaver, the superintendent – that was eight o’clock in the morning – and by five in the afternoon the V12 was in the MkX.
I used to take it home, and one Sunday morning I went to see some friends at Luton, down the M1. I got behind this Mk2 saloon and just sat behind him. He must have seen me in the mirror and pushed on a bit, and we got up to 100, 110, 120, then I pulled out, got alongside and passed him. On the Monday morning I went in and security rang me and said ‘Norman, a guy’s been on the phone, said a MkX passed him when he was doing 125mph. Have you got a special MkX?’ I said, ring him back and say if he finds out who it was, could he let us know because I’d be very interested! I never heard any more until years later I published my autobiography, and the phone rang and the guy said, ‘I’ve just read your book where you talk about the first V12 in the MkX. You’re the bugger who passed me, and I’ve been waiting all these years to find out!’
Williams Lyons at his home,Wappenbury Hall, probably in late 1966, with a ‘Series 1½’ E-type.JAGUAR
Other Changes
The V12 engine went into the Series 3 E-type, which standardized the longer wheelbase previously used only on the 2+2. The two-seater coupé was dropped, leaving just a 2+2 coupé and two-seat roadster. Other changes included a new grille, and pressed-steel wheels with wider tyres covered by flared wheel arches. Judged by the standards of the time it was quite a good update, but it couldn’t hide the fact that the basic design of the E-type was now ten years old, and in the time the E-type had been on sale,American rivals such as the Mustang, Camaro and Corvette had all had major reworks. None of them could match the smoothness of the E-type’s engine or the quality of its ride and handling, but headline power figures sold fast cars, and even with the V12 the E-type lagged behind.
E-Type Production Ends
The end came in 1974 when Jaguar finally stopped E-type production, ending the run with a batch of fifty Commemorative edition roadsters in black (actually one was green) with cinnamon leather. Even then the last few E-types took a while to sell, which was partly why Jaguar supported the efforts of the US-based Group 44 racing team and driver Bob Tullius with a V12 E-type in the SCCA National Championships, which Tullius won in 1975.
