For lovers of the Jaguar E-Type (as though the car could possibly elicit any haters), this video from the UK’s Autocar is an absolute must-see.
And we here at Motrolix utterly despise the phrase “must-see.”
The story, as-told by Autocar‘s Steve Cropley, is that in 1963, a lightened, race-ready version of the Jaguar E-Type coupe was unveiled, utilizing aluminum in place of steel wherever appropriate. A run of 18 cars was planned by the manufacturer, but the success of the ordinary Jaguar E-Type got in the way; only 12 were ever completed, leaving 6 chassis by the wayside while the luxury British automaker concentrated on bigger, more mainstream efforts.
Fast-forward to 2014, when Jaguar Land Rover Automotive’s Special Operations Division decided to revive the racing Jaguar E-Type after some 50 years of dormancy. The result: a Jaguar E-Type “Lightweight Continuation Series,” necessarily limited to six units, with each slated to cost £1 million (approx. $1.54 million US).
The special project presented an enormous undertaking; the tooling used on the original Jaguar E-Type has long been gone, necessitating a thorough reverse-engineering of Jaguar’s own classic car. Even the all-aluminum engine had to be painstakingly recreated, and on a project this historically significant, the devil is in the details.
Watch Autocar‘s Steve Cropley explore the historically rich Jaguar E-Type Lightweight Continuation Series right here. Seriously, you don’t want to miss it.
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