Actually, "remaking" probably isn't an appropriate term, maybe "reborn" would be better. See, while this vehicle was built on top of an original E-Type chassis and uses the original straight-six, the Speedster is actually a one-off contemporary design and that engine produces twice the power and torque of the original. Follow the images for details. [Eagle via CAR]

The custom-built windscreen is lowered and raked back with shaped wind-down side glass and hidden ‘A' posts.

This enhances the 'sleekness' of the overall shape and creates a driving 'cocoon'.

The deeper sills & lowered floor pan effortlessly increase the more muscular appearance of the all-aluminium bodyshell and lowers the drivers seating position.

This enhances the feeling of 'connection' with the road and stiffens the body even further.

The body colour sheet metal extends across the door tops and around the scallops further defining the essence of the Speedster concept.

The wheel track has been increased and the wheel arch width extended - in keeping with the 'muscular' lines of the bodyshell.

To suit USA registration plates and shorter UK numbers, the number plate aperture has been narrowed - working in harmony with the overall style.

These completely custom-designed aluminium rimmed wheels have been expertly made to enhance the visual aesthetic, road holding and grip. They are completed by the custom designed 3-eared wheel spinners.

From the first design sketches, we wanted this cockpit to be a fantastic place to be. It combines pure driving functionality with classic styling and luxury. It's pure E-Type - right down the authentic aluminium fascia.

The rear decking extends further centrally and drops into the cockpit creating a 'waterfall' console, mirroring the smooth external lines into the cockpit.

To keep the smooth lines flowing inside the cockpit, the handbrake lever has been completely concealed - under the Edelman hide cubby lid.

Underneath all the exterior beauty lies the heart of the beast - the Eagle 4.7 litre engine matched to our 5 speed gearbox and sports suspension.

The tuned Jaguar block develops 300bhp – a 50% increase over the standard E-type engine of the '60's – and 340lb ft of torque that comes in at around 1700rpm.

Overall weight is just 2,425 Lbs, which means the Speedster reaches 60 MPH in less than five seconds and tops out around 175 MPH.

I work at a fire department in the Atlanta area and thought you guys might enjoy these pics. They're of a 1971 Jaguar that apparently had just been purchased that day and somehow caught fire before the guy got home with it. I never found out what caused the passenger compartment fire or how devastated the new owner was but that's a friend of mine putting it out. And just so you know, he's not sitting there letting it burn in the first pic - he's waiting for the engineer to get water to him from the pump so he can put it out.

We're man enough to admit if this happened to our newly-purchased E-Type, we'd cry. Like a little girl. Not only is it an E-type, it's a fastback, and it's the incredibly desirable 1971 with the lighter and more reliable 4.2 liter straight six and without the hideous Federally mandated rubber block bumpers that came in 1972. Like little girls, we'd cry. (Hat tip to Ryan!)

With truckloads of parts and a buyer in mind, then-owner Mike Wilkinson went to go see Ray Parrott, enthusiast and restorer extraordinaire. Together they took an exhaustive inventory of the parts included in the leftovers and discovered that about 95% of the components needed to actually build an original car were there. Ray of course could not pass.

Parrott set to work assembling the car in his Essex home, using his detailed knowledge of the car and his fully assembled Series 3 for reference along with shop and original assembly manuals. The idea of actually putting brand new, still in the packaging parts of a thirty year old car together for the first time is astonishing. Things like the mild-steel exhaust system were still perfect, the dashboard came pre-assembled just as it would have in the factory, even the Dunlop tires were original and in perfect, new condition. Bolt holes matched exactly, there was no grime to clean out, no rust to remove, nothing to strip and paint and prime. More or less, a car guys wet dream. Ray meticulously undertook the work over the course of eight months and when he fired it up and took it for a first drive, it was as if it were rolling off the assembly line for the first time — because it was.

The car has been tested by the Ministry of Transportation and is awaiting its VIN and chassis numbers along with legal registration, which he has been assured will be awarded. So from a pile of parts forgotten and stored Ray Parrot is now the proud owner of E-type number 72,530. [Octane]

I haven't been able to get my greasy mitts on many of these cars, so I can't claim any great depth of E-Type knowledge. However, I'm going to guess this is a '66 model (based on the dash and taillights) and hope that I'm pretty close. Jaguar experts, feel free to weigh in on this burning question.


This car sold new for $5,580, which was about a thousand bucks more than a '66 Corvette Stingray coupe with 427 and 4-speed (that info is for those of you who wish to price out the cars in the Jan & Dean song "Dead Man's Curve"). The 427 Corvette was way faster (at least in a straight line) and orders of magnitude more reliable, but just look at this thing (wolf whistle).


But we're not going to have a Corvette-versus-Jag poll today (since we've already had one in Project Car Hell). No, we're going to pick our favorite British car found parked on the non-mean streets of Alameda. Sure, the E-Type is the prettiest... but what about that super-rare MGC-GT? And the '59 Morris Minor takes its owner on a 15-mile commute every day, Lucas Electrics and all!

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There's something magical about old Jaguars, E-Types especially, which are capable of making you completely lose your ability to process rational thought. They are beautiful without compromise, with exotic and sometimes maddening engineering. You just can't help but stare at an E-Type. With the revival of the S-type and all but tragedy of platform prostitution, and the original lackluster design of the E-Type mimicking XK8, can the designers pen really be trusted to reinterpret the old XKE? It is a tantalizing prospect, but if it comes to pass, the suspense will probably kill us.

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When it debuted at the Tokyo Auto Show in 1965, Toyota's 2000GT set the world's view of Japan on its head. Before then, we knew that Japan liked to build cars, but the bulk of them (hell, all of them) left motoring enthusiasts asleep at the wheel. Most of the designs were heavily influenced (or stolen outright) by other car makers (see Subaru) and even those that were wholly original, were just barely above farm equipment in both driving dynamics and purpose. The 2000GT was a samurai sword to the face of that particular line of thought. Just 20 years after their shattering defeat in WW2, Japan was now showing the world a sports car that could take on the best Europe could offer in terms of both performance and sepuku-inducing good looks.

However, Toyota didn't do it alone. In fact, Toyota was hardly responsible for the 2000GT at all. The bulk of the heavy lifting was done by motorbike and piano maker Yamaha. Nissan was also planning a swift GT car and teamed with Yamaha to build it. The latter brought in German designer Albrecht Goertz (BMW 507 anyone?) to skin the car. We can only imagine how effing hot that collaboration would have been, but sadly the project was killed in 1964. Though an altered version did resurface a decade later as the 240Z. Luckily, Toyota invited Yamaha to help them build their own svelte GT, Using a design penned by Satoru Nozaki, the two firms agreed to build the project codenamed 280A.

From day one the plan was to beat the E-type. Jaguar had set the world on fire in 1961 with the Geneva reveal of its sexy phallus mit 4 wheels. It had the racing heritage, the power, the technology and the looks that absolutely slaughtered. However, the Japanese being the Japanese, took one look and determined that they could do it better. How do you improve upon perfection? Borrow a page (or three) from Colin Chapman. The 2000GT was to be lighter, smaller, more nimble and some will argue better looking. Damn hot, regardless. More importantly, the joint Toyota/Yamaha team looked at a wide range of sporty cars including the E-type, Porsche 911 and Lotus Elan. Ultimately they decided that the Elan's backbone chassis was the spot from which to pitch their tent.

Compared to the E-Type, the 2000GT is shorter, narrower and way lower. In fact, the car is only 45 inches tall. The pop up headlights were actually a result of a California law that required headlights be at least 2 feet from the ground. Those giant Cisitalia 202-inspired lights on the nose are just driving lights (though in the JDM only Sport 800 they function as the headlights). Like the Elan, the 2000GT was light, barely hitting the 2500 pound mark. It was also quite technically advanced for the time, and especially for a Japanese car. All four corners were independent of each other and featured unequal-length control arms. The steering was rack-and-pinion. The 2000GT was also the first Japanese car to feature 4-wheel disks and a limited slip differential.

The engine was a rodded version of the 2.0-liter inline-6 from the Crown sedan. Think of it as a mini-version of Jag's 3.8-liter straight-6 (they did). Yamaha fabricated an aluminum head complete with hemispherical chambers. They then fitted two chain-driven overhead camshafts. Feeding the mill were three twin-throat Mikuni-Solex carburetors. This setup produced 150 horses. While not exactly screaming (especially by today's standards), this was more than enough power to make the 2000GT the fastest car ever from Japan. Its 130 mph top speed was more than twice as fast as most other cars on the island nation. For those still not convinced, subbing in a set of Webbers quickly boosted the power to well over 200 hp.

Only 351 2000GTs were ever built (though some claim as few as 337). One side effect of the super low production numbers (less than say the Enzo) is that each car was hand made. From the engine to the body to the gorgeous interior to the hand etched, "leaded fuel only" on the standard racing fuel cap, the customer was getting a truly bespoke product. Sadly this was reflected in the price, which in 1967 was $1,000 more than the faster and more comfortable E-type (about $6,800). I still remember when Acura was launched my old man saying, "$20,000 for a Japanese car? Are they nuts?" And that was in the late-80s. Back in the mid-60s, Toyota had a huge mountain to climb.

Rest assured, it was worth every yen. Fully aware that part of the E-type's mystique was its racing heritage, Toyota began racing (and winning with) the 2000GT. In 1966 a 2000GT came in third in the Japanese Grand Prix. Another won the Fuji 24-hour event in 1967. Carroll Shelby even raced a pair of 2000GTs in SCCA competition. More importantly, the 2000GT set several FIA 1500 - 2000 cc class speed and 72-hour endurance records prompting Porsche to field the 911R specifically to beat Toyota.

But performance is hardly the reason we're nominating the 2000GT for the Fantasy Garage. As with most inhabitants, just bloody look at it. Cynics will say the shape is nothing more than a shrunken E-type, but they and there hard hearts are missing both the point and the glorious purity of one of the world's greatest ever designs. In fact, if you look long enough, you might even notice the starting point for the Ferrari Daytona (just add in a sprinkle of Datsun Z). The nearly bumper-less rear is frankly perfect, the swooping sides as sensual as those of any car you can think of while the front end is lusty,powerful and still able to wow us more than 40 years on. Want to make it a Bond car? Just hack off the top. Good on you, Toyota. Happy voting.

(Thanks to Harumph for the awesome pics — and Bumbeck for the equally righteous gallery shots)

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The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12 | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga | Audi Quattro S1 | Buick GNX | Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R | Honorary Fantasy Garager: The LS1 Powered Rotus | Lamborghini LM002 | Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe | Ferrari 250 GTO | Bentley Speed Six | Talbot-Lago T150C SS Figoni et Falaschi Raindrop/Teardrop Coupe | Porsche 917 | Audi RS4 Avant || Lamborghini Miura | Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 | BMW E39 M5 | Jaguar E-type | Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | Dodge Charger/Challenger R/T

Put on your time-machine hats (time machine hats?) and follow me back to before the E-Type. It was a barren land, filled with rust, inertia and frankly, a lot of ugly-ass cars. Sure, there were some beautiful, nimble and fast machines to be had (I mean, Italy's been a country since 1848, right?) but rarely did all three attributes blend together like in the E-type. Take Chevrolet's Corvette for instance. A looker since day one, but nice two-speed automatic you had there. Germany had hyper-exotics like the Mercedes-Benz 300SL (your life savings, please) and cute little rollers such as the Porsche 356 (slooooooow). Italy made tongue-wagging masterpieces like the Fiat 8V Ghia, but it didn't exactly dance, and its two-liter, 70-degree V8 was the size of a Chevy small block yet only half as strong. It was the E-type that finally put it all together in a single, winning, stunning package. Compared to every other sports car of the day, the sporty Jag was cheaper, faster and oh-so-much-better looking.

The E-Type, or XKE, was massively sophisticated for its day. Built around a central steel monocoque, the chassis was remarkably buff, yet light — something the competition just didn't offer. There was a sub frame up front to cradle the engine and independent suspension. The strong center section comprised the passenger compartment. The rear section was odd, if not innovative, as the driveshaft actually functioned as the upper section of the two wishbones. This shrank the fully independent rear end dramatically. Obviously, with a complex setup like this, accident avoidance was of the highest concern. (It ain't gonna hammer out.) Disc brakes at each corner, too.

So the E-Type was light and nimble enough to dance, but could it fly? Well, despite being offered initially with the archaic XK twin-cammer I-6 (a 3.8-liter version) tuned to reach 265 horsepower, the E-type was the fastest car in the world on its release, capable of hitting an honest-to-goodness 150 mph. Two years later, in 1964, a 4.2-liter version of the XK150S's motor showed up with a matching synchromesh gearbox. The previous four-speed did not have synchromesh, which sounds pretty romantic to us. In 1971 Jaguar released the malaise era Series 3 E-type. The good news was that it had a beefy (if not leaky) 5.3-liter V12. The horrible news was, it only came in an awkward looking 2+2 configuration. But hey, the 70s sucked.

So let's forget about the Series 3 and really the Series 2, too (give me glass headlight covers or give me death), and we'll concentrate on the Series 1, which is without question one of the very best looking cars ever made. Automobile's Robert Cumberford has called it "Phalliform Perfection." In fact, Cumberford stuck the E-TYpe's schnoz on the cover of his book Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design. Praise doesn't get much higher than that, kids.

Designed by Malcolm Sayer, the man who also penned the awesome D-Type, the E-Type was one of the first cars designed in a wind tunnel. Kind of. Sure, the initial shape was worked over in the tunnel, but not trusting an artificial environment, Sayer would affix four-inch strips of wool to various points of the vehicle. Then he had legendary development engineer Norman Dewis take the E-type prototype up to 130 mph, because that was as fast as the XK150 chase car could go. Sayer would then observe the wool and the car in motion and note the discrepancies, which were typically around eight percent. As Dewis recalls:

He did the wool tuft tests on the circuit just to check his work in the tunnel. You could see a higher drag on the circuit, which is why he allowed the 8 percent difference. He was right every time, there was no question about that. He really knew his stuff.

Regular readers of Jalopnik will recognize the above image. I took it when I was car hunting in a Reliant Scimitar and we stumbled across a British guy who essentially said, "I used to have one of those, come look at my E-type." I mention this because I still so clearly remember the moment when my new best friend pulled back the car cover. It simply blew my mind. Nothing is supposed to be that spectacular, that jaw-droppingly beautiful or — dare I say it — that perfect. Seriously, the damn thing looks perfect. Cutting-edge technology, world-class speed, a price that shamed the competition and a design so modern yet so classic that any peers the E-type may have are already in the Garage. We don't keep the world's greatest mechanic on retainer for nothing. Vote Jaguar. Vote E-Type. Vote now.

Addendum — E-type Lightweight Low Drag Coupe:

This guy would probably work as its own Fantasy entry, but c'est la vie. Those of you who remember your Fantasy Garage lore will remember that the E-type is the car that convinced Ferrari's Girolamo Gardini that Modena simply had to build the 250 GTO. That's a another plume in the E-Type's cap right there. In 1963, Jaguar Works began building lightweight E-Types and had a fair degree of success with them on the track, especially after Dr. Samir Klat designed a low-drag coupe body for the lightweight car. Like the Shelby Cobras, the Lightweights (which were soft tops with hard tops bolted in place) were having trouble with the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans. The low-drag body fixed that. Victory finally came in 1964 when a low-drag coupe won the Brands Hatch race, beating Ferrari. Hot car, huh? Happy voting.

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The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12 | 1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage | Honda 1300 Coupe 9 | 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe | Ferrari 288 GTO | Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 | 1970 Buick GSX 455 | First Generation BMW M Coupe | Bugatti Veyron 16.4 | Ford GT | Citroen SM | Porsche 928 | Jensen FF | DeTomaso Vallelunga | Audi Quattro S1 | Buick GNX | Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R | Honorary Fantasy Garager: The LS1 Powered Rotus | Lamborghini LM002 | Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe | Ferrari 250 GTO | Bentley Speed Six | Talbot-Lago T150C SS Figoni et Falaschi Raindrop/Teardrop Coupe | Porsche 917 | Audi RS4 Avant | Maybach Exelero | Lamborghini Miura | Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 | BMW E39 M5

Could we be looking at a new arms race between Tesla, which uses a Lotus chassis and a new British car company that plans an even more batchsit mad electric car? Sure, why not. It's the Lightning Car Company GT, and it's powered by four, hub mounted electric motors that its builders claim produce at least 700 hp in toto. We're not sure if torque accrues in the same way, but considering each motor has a maximum torque rating at the wheel of 553 lb-ft starting at zero rpm, it could be a mad proposition if t did. The company's plan calls for three models, the GT; a lighter, faster GTS version and a long-range GTSE model that can do 250 miles on a charge. Pistonheads says the batteries can be recharged in 10 minutes, though we're not sure if that's just a partial charge or the full monte. PH says to expect the GTSE model word on prices yet, but expect a top-range GTSE to set you back £150,000. Gee.

The Lightning Car Company via Pistonheads]

Related:
Spy Photos: Tesla Roadster in the Arctic [internal]

Last year, Britons dropped 6 billion quid in an attempt to make their rides more appealing to the opposite sex, which is approximately 25 times more than they spent on plastic surgery. No word, however on the dentistry-to-ride-pimping ratio. Also, the respondents to the survey voted the Jaguar E-Type the car that makes them the horniest. While many admitted to shagging in the back seat, 4% of those surveyed said they'd even gone for a spot of tang in the midst of a traffic jam. Randy buggers.

6Billion to Sex Up Our Cars [Mirror, UK]

Related:
Tempest in a D-Cup: Will Australia's Gold Coast Metermaids be Swept Away? [Internal]