This car has been with me since 1970 when I bought it for $850.00. It has about 54,000 original miles and all of the original transmission, engine, and most of the original sheet metal. I restored it completely in 1992 giving it a coat of metallic burgundy Jaguar lacquer, a new beige Bartlett's interior and a set of Dayton wires.
My first sportscar was a 120 Jag roadster(That's me on the left in 1961). I guess, I have an affinity for Jags because of that 120. But, I have to say that I don't enjoy driving the E-Type as much as I did. It doesn't like congestion and the engine really doesn't want to know until about 3,000RPM. In an E, thats faster than you really should go in Washington state. If you run it in stop and go traffic, which we are getting more and more of, it heats up and becomes very resentful. But it's a member of the family so I guess I'll keep it. Maybe I'll move to someplace where I can use it right.
I just found this picture of the XKE so, you may as well see it too.
The two guys looking at the thing are yours truly and a friend of mine. 35 years and I am still getting my picture taken standing around Jags. I have known the fellow in the picture with me for 40 years. He went a different direction with his cars.
That's a 40 Ford with a 460ci V-8 pressed in. The engine, as you notice, is fed by a 6-71 GMC supercharger. Nice. My friend does super work on his cars(but, maybe a little over the top on the engines?).
If you would like to see some more of the Jag and some restoration pictures and commentary, please use this link. Warning: There's lots of stuff here.