Cats on the Prowl

August 31, 2013

In a world where plastic and boring cars are far too often the norm, its always pleasing to get up close and personal with timeless classics from a bygone era. On this occasion, the cats were on the prowl.

Jaguar is one of those iconic marques, which although may be out of reach in terms of affordability and practicality, still deserves our respect for what it achieved in automotive deign and engineering.

For this reason, Federation Square played host to the Jaguar Car Club of Victoria last week. About thirty Jaguars, from all ages were proudly on show.

Jaguar’s innovative and advanced XK series in the 1950’s cemented the roots for the later cars. This sublime XK150 coupe eptimises the timeless beauty of this era.

It was this sporting heritage and DNA that was infused into Jaguar’s most well-known creation. The immortal E-type.

Originally, the E-type was fitted with the triple SU carburetted 3.8 litre six-cylinder Jaguar XK6 engine from the XK150. The 3.8-litre engine was increased to 4.2 litres in October 1964. The straight six is work of art in the engine bay of an E-type.

More than 70,000 E-Types were produced, and they are highly prized and collectable today.

The E-type was the performance pinnacle for Jaguar when produced from 1961 to 1974. When first launched in 1961, the E-type was tested with a top speed of 240 km/h and could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 7.1 seconds. Although, its now common knowledge that these test cars were not quite ‘standard.’

Timeless beauty and elegance is what sums up the E-type Jaguar. Those devastatingly beautiful and organic lines are purely irrestible. Its not hard to see why Enzo Ferrari once referred to the E-type as the most beautiful car ever designed

Its a car that demands respect and appeals to a wide-range of enthusiasts and the general public. Everyone knows what an E-type is. It was hard to get a clear view of this Series 1 Coupe. Like moths to a flame, people of all ages were drawn to this E-type.

Coupe or Convertible? To us, here at Driven Threads we would take a Coupe over a convertible. There something that was lost when removing the roof.

The last hurah for the E-type was the Series 3. Which featured the 5.3 L twelve-cylinder Jaguar V12 engine. uprated brakes and power steering. Gone was the true Coupe with the 2 plus 2 the standard choice.

Plush English leather and a proper gear stick.

The legacy of sporting Jaguars continued after the E-type with the XJS from 1975 to 1996. Most featured the thirsty V12, derived the from late model E types. This example fitted with the TWR bodykit.

Like most sporting Jaguars, two body styles were produced – a coupé and a convertible.

Fast Forward to 1996, and the XK8 replaced the aging XJ-S. This Jaguar was the first in the line up to feature the then newly developed V8 engine. In 1998 the supercharged XKR was added to the range. This XKR in the iconic British Racing green.

Ian Callum designed the delectable XK model bringing Jaguar into the new century. This is Jaguar’s current sports/touring model.

Fortunately for Jaguar, the Sports car story doesn’t stop there. With the F-type continuing the proud Jaguar legacy. Could this be the best Jaguar yet? It’s definitely one of the fastest the 5.0 V8 version producing 364kW and 0-100 in 4.3 seconds.