Retromóvil Madrid: 60 Years of Jaguar E

TEXT: RETROMÓVIL MADRID

It's hard to imagine a sexier car and cool that the Jaguar E. It is absolutely a product of its time, of a decade, that of the 60s, marked by the gradual shortening of the skirts and an increasingly dreamlike conception of reality. The sexual and mental liberation that characterizes the contemporary world happened then.

And then, in 1961, that precious car was launched, with its huge hood and whose body was full of curves. A machine that captured the experience of the Le Mans champions and translated it into a state-of-the-art street racing car that earned the recognition of none other than Enzo Ferrari. We do not know if he actually said that 'this is the most beautiful car ever made', but he did probably build the 250 GTO in response to the Jaguar threat.

THE GOLDEN YEARS OF JAGUAR

The English brand won the 24 Hours five times during the 1950s, three officially and two thanks to the Ecurie Ecosse, at a time when Mercedes and Ferrari were in their prime. They invented disc brakes as we know them today. The Jaguar C and D-Type revolutionized the racing world; especially the latter, thanks to its aerodynamics, its monocoque, its subframe and its independent rear suspension.

The team responsible for all this adventure was rather small: Sir William Lyons, the true captain of the ship, who, among other qualities, knew how to smell the market like no one else and turn into trendy the cars from the factory he ran. Then there was the crew, engineers Bill Heynes, Bob Knight, Tom Jones, and Phil Weaver; and, of course, aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer, whose aviation background (everyone actually had it) made the E-Type split the wind. Finally there was the test pilot, Norman Dewis. Just a handful of brilliant minds.

In 1955 Jaguar officially stopped racing. He had already achieved what he wanted with his sports program, which was to surround the then new brand with an aura of prestige. As Aston-Martin also did, once it succeeded it simply focused on its commercial range for the next decade, of which the E-Type would be the undisputed star.

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AN EXCELLENT SPORTS GT, AND A BARGAIN!

To understand this automotive milestone, it must also be taken into account that, although it could run - since it took a lot from the Jaguar D-, he was not made to compete. The 'zapapilla', as we affectionately know it in Spain, was designed according to the canons of a sports GT, not those of a pure sports car. Initially equipped with the XK in-line 6-cylinder, 3,8-liter and 265 hp engine, the idea was to market it in FHC or coupe and OTS or roadster versions. While endowed with the proverbial maneuverability, it was built for the day-to-day; not like a Ferrari, which also used to cost more than double.

Precisely, one of the strengths of the E-Type at the time - and one of the main mistakes of Mr. Lyons- was the price. The car was ridiculously cheap and by marketing it on those terms the brand lost the opportunity to accumulate capital to invest for the next decade. Also obsessing over mass production of sports and luxury saloons that the market could not absorb and selling the company to BMC in 1966, later becoming part of the disastrous British Leyland, did not help either.

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THREE SERIES: THE E-TYPE GETS OLD

But let's return to our beloved 'Zapatilla', a symbol of an era whose importance has been recognized by cultural and artistic institutions such as the MOMA museum in New York. At the end of 1964 the engine displacement grew to 4.2 liters in search of more torque. And in 1966 the 2 + 2 coupe version arrived thanks to a slightly elongated wheelbase. Aside from the luscious aluminum dashboards that the early units mounted, this is all you reasonably need to know known as Series 1.

Starting in 1967, the newest North American anti-pollution and safety laws began to come into play. And it is that in those days the European performance car was designed and sold mainly in the United States, a true land of postwar abundance. It is because of that, in Series 2 (1968), The E-Type had to accept the enlargement of its grille, the repositioning of its front indicators in the lower part of the bumper and, above all, the loss of the faired protections of its headlights, among other requirements.

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Later, Series 3 is another story. Jaguar had been flirting with the idea of ​​a racing V12 for twenty years. Finally, as a project that was not a priority, they developed it and mounted it on the muscular XJ13 prototype, destined to be the black beast of the Ferrari LM or the Ford GT40. The reality is that by the end of the 60s the car was technically out of date and totally underdeveloped. But the mechanics were there, and Jaguar did not have time to remove a camshaft per bed, tame it and pass it to series production. 

In the case of the E-Type, and starting in 1971, they made a super GT. With the wheelbase definitely lengthened, the Series 3 offered nothing more than 2 + 2 bodywork in both open and closed options. The 5,3-liter 270 hp engine it was tremendously refined in its operation, bursting with torque; and thanks to its aluminum block it was not much heavier than the XK6. Options such as the automatic transmission, or the air conditioning, and the standard power steering enshrined the mutation towards something known but certainly different. On the aesthetic level, the T-grille and the wheel arch flaps, among other things, gave away the new beast.

RACES, SPECIAL CARS AND PRIVATE DRIVERS

And well, they weren't made to run, but E's ran, especially in the beginning. The factory stocked with droppers the well-known projectiles lightweight -lightened-, specially prepared for the circuits, to select private drivers. In principle, 12 machines were made, each one with its particularities, of which the most specific were the very few and beautiful coupés. 'low drag'. On the other hand, logically and given the good base, pilots from all over the world tuned their Es to compete. The palmareses are not important but they are interesting.

THE JAGUAR E-TYPE IN A RETROMÓVIL MADRID

This was the glory of the E, of which about 72,500 units were made until 1974. It is a certainly impressive figure for a car of this type, which denotes the tremendous social impact that it caused at the time. And that is why Retromobile It will dedicate ample time and space to it on its 60th anniversary, displaying a large sample of the model that will include all the different variants that made up its range.

Astonishing, flamboyant, awesome, mind boggling, groundbreaking (amazing, wonderful, incredible, mind-blowing, groundbreaking), all these qualifiers have been used since its launch to refer to the E-Type. So come celebrate with us!

HURTAN, CONTINUATOR OF THE LARGE BRITISH TWO-SEATS IN SPAIN

On the other hand, in the Madrid show we will have the privilege of presenting a new model of steal, the only active Spanish-owned brand whose impact has been and is international. Hurtan, based in Granada, has been making cars for thirty years whose inspiration is the English two-seater convertibles. His last car is the Grand Albaycin, and we are going to have it in Retromóvil together with its managers who will also explain a new and innovative way to enjoy it through experiences.