By John Griffiths
Published: October 24 2009 00:44 | Last updated: October 24 2009 00:44
My wife Peggy and I might as well have been brought up on different planets. She grew up in the Canadian Rockies, riding bareback to a school that had a hitching rail and a barn for the horses in winter. When her pet cow, Iodine, broke its leg, she spurned beef only briefly after her father shot the animal for the freezer. Her transport was provided by horse, pick-up truck and Chevys. Yet the one car this cowgirl really wanted from the moment she first saw a photo was the E-Type Jaguar – and it’s a desire that has stayed with her to this day.
Ever since its debut stunned the world at the 1961 Geneva motor show, no other car has driven across so many geographical and cultural boundaries to become such a universal object of automotive desire. The E-Type remains the ultimate icon of form and function blended into a peerless work of art. And the gaping motor show crowds gaped even more when they saw the £2,000 price tag on the 150mph masterpiece – less than half the price of an Aston Martin or a Ferrari.
Whether the reality of driving the E-Type could ever live up to its visual appeal has nagged away at the back of my mind without ever being answered. Or it was until a month ago when, mindful of the large and enduring classic car market for the E-Type (nearly a quarter of all the cars produced survive), I slipped behind the wheel for the first time. Both test car and test route were ideal: a pristine 1965 4.2 litre Series 1 coupé owned by racing driver Henry Pearman; and the Guild of Motoring Writers’ UK classic car rally, this year based at Buxton and winding through the desolate hills and bumpy backroads of the surrounding Peak District.
Jaguar built 72,000 E-Types between 1961 and 1974, about 7,000 of which were sold in the UK. A line-up that started initially only with the Series 1 3.8 and 4.2 litre coupés and roadsters, it expanded into 2+2 coupé and V12 versions, gradually losing its aesthetics along the way. The 2+2 emerged as bulbous and awkward as the two-seater Series 1 coupés were sensuous and lithe. The V12 roadsters and coupés grew gaping maws of radiator grilles, piled on weight and were bought by Americans. It is the Series 1 cars, with their uncluttered lines and faired-in headlamps, that are the most highly regarded of all E-Types and that achieve the highest prices – sometimes well over £100,000 – at international classic car auctions.
Three days and 700 miles provided a clear reminder, however, of how far cars have come in the 44 years since Pearman’s E-Type came off Jaguar’s now-defunct Browns Lane assembly line. Beautiful as it is, it feels old. It is long in wheelbase and narrow of track. No advanced aerodynamic calculations produced that sleek nose. There is no power steering, and the tyres, though modern, sit on wire wheels that are narrow by current standards. As a result, the “E” occasionally shifts unexpectedly and uneasily in the side draughts from lane-switching trucks during a wet and blustery run up the M1.
Features we take for granted today are starkly absent. The seats don’t recline. The seatbelts have no inertia reels and, on leaving the car, you’d better check that the headlights are off because there is no electronic “boing” to remind you. All switchgear except the indicator stalk – wipers, fan and so on – is mounted on the dashboard and takes some getting used to. There is no central locking. The heating and ventilation system proves woefully inadequate when faced with condensation from a damp-coated duo returning to the car from a rain-lashed high Peaks checkpoint.
The brakes are reassuringly powerful and the four-speed gearbox smooth and all-synchromesh – but mainly because Pearman and his specialist E-Type company, Eagle, have upgraded them.
So, sounds like the E is a bit of a let-down? Not a bit of it. The growl from the famous old 260bhp straight six is a sound to revel in. The ride, again helped by an upgrade, is supple yet sporting even over winding, bumpy backroads. It tucks into bends eagerly, its narrowness a major asset on the B roads and minor A roads where most remaining motoring fun is to be had. The feelgood factor within the cockpit is tangible: a heady aroma of original leather matured over four decades, rev counter and speedometer framed by drilled and polished aluminium, wood-rimmed steering wheel, and, not least, the spectacular view forwards over the long, curving bonnet.
Best of all, the world and its wife want to be your friend. Children wave. Others gaze and nod their approval, and I lost count of the times we were gladly let out of side roads by other drivers – not what normally happens in a Porsche.
Pearman says there are a few decent cars around that can be had for less than £50,000. “But equally, you can easily buy a supposedly good restored car for £50,000, yet by the time we’ve finished with it to our standards it could well cost the same again.” Little wonder that an Eagle E-Type has topped the Top Gear/Jeremy Clarkson list of 100 all-time great cars.
The small barn on Pearman’s East Sussex estate where Eagle sells cars it has sourced and restored bears him out. Most are priced between £100,000 and £175,000. Alternatively, enthusiasts bring their own cars for a choice of upgrades ranging from classic to supersport. Finally, there is the Eagle E-Type itself; built virtually from scratch and using all modern technology to create a car with the performance capabilities and systems sophistication of any modern supercar. But the cost is likely to be at least £250,000.
As we step from the car for the last time, I ask Peggy whether she is disappointed, her desire for an E-Type finally fulfilled. She nods in reluctant agreement – but not for the reason I assume. It is Pearman’s pragmatic assessment of the real costs of E-Type ownership, not the car, that has discouraged her head, but clearly not her heart.
She glances back: “That car is so damn beautiful. It’s just not fair.”
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