GEAR day at Lakeside, weather isnt that great but was very interesting...
Quite a few new attendees but what caught my eyes and ears were two E types and a 3800.
The Blue e type was a full restoration with the only change from factory a 3.8L alloy block. The 3800 was set up as a racing saloon with a 3.8L and the hard top, well, there is a story. Apologies for the long winded drivel to come.
The E type was never intended as a racing car but the mid engined successor to the D type was delayed so the E type got the nod.
Jaguar were keen to have success at Le Mans and their skunk works came up with a light weight streamliner. The body was a couple shell but with changes that came out of a wind tunnel. Full aluminium body and aluminium engine block kept the weight down and bought another 20mph on Mulsanne straight. 11 (I believe) were made. They werent successful having to compete with the mighty Ferrari 260 GTO.
The gold car in the pics to follow has been hand made to those specs with some updates like itb instead of weber carburettors. The car was a basket case E type coupe restored to what you see here.
The 3800
The streamliner
The convertable
Convertible engine bay