Are Jaguar "E" types overpriced?
Discussion
2xChevrons said:
Beyond that, I find the Austin-Healey much more 'involving' than the E-type. It does drive like a truck, but it drives like a truck that can do 120mph on leaf springs and bits of Austin Atlantic. That's much more exciting to me than the E-type, which is immeasurably more capable but is simply rather dull and competent from a dynamic point of view. I like my classic sports to have fairly low dynamic limits (hence my fondness for Spridgets) and the E-type is, in that respect, 'too good'.
I understand this comment. I'd chose an XK over and E for the same reasons. The difference between the XK with it's separate chassis and live rear end and the E-Type is, IMHO, bigger that the difference between an E and an XK8. The E must have been a total revelation when it came out.But that's not what I drive a classic car for.
a8hex said:
2xChevrons said:
Beyond that, I find the Austin-Healey much more 'involving' than the E-type. It does drive like a truck, but it drives like a truck that can do 120mph on leaf springs and bits of Austin Atlantic. That's much more exciting to me than the E-type, which is immeasurably more capable but is simply rather dull and competent from a dynamic point of view. I like my classic sports to have fairly low dynamic limits (hence my fondness for Spridgets) and the E-type is, in that respect, 'too good'.
I understand this comment. I'd chose an XK over and E for the same reasons. The difference between the XK with it's separate chassis and live rear end and the E-Type is, IMHO, bigger that the difference between an E and an XK8. The E must have been a total revelation when it came out.But that's not what I drive a classic car for.
The Etype must have been a real sensation nearly 60 years ago, it still amazes me today. This is why it’s all so subjective because we are all after different driving experience
I’ve had a Big Healey, horrid horrid thing. I’ve had a few Z’s and still have one with a 2.9 throttle bodied engine 256 horses etc etc, nice car but just no where near the pleasure I get in the E.
Horses for courses.
TooMany2cvs said:
lowdrag said:
Not at all. All-round self-adjusting and servoed disc brakes for example.
I thought the Mk2 and Mk9 had discs?BUT
The brakes on the E-Type though are different to those from the 150. The rear brakes using discs on the live axle are a problem, there is too much play causing knockoff. The C and the D used the Plessy pump to overcome this, but don't forgot that Stirling Moss did the first race knowing he'd have to pump the brakes on before they'd work. The E-Type doesn't have that issue since it doesn't have the same brakes or axle.
The IRS was in the E-Types first, Jaguar tended to test things out in their sports cars first, smaller production numbers and customers who were more likely to be understanding about being on the bleeding edge. The XK was planned to be the propulsion unit for the saloon but it appeared in the XK120 first. Originally the XK120 was a "show car" well we might make a few... OH **** there's a queue of people on the show stand with cheque books or even who are prepared to come back in a few minutes with suitcases of cash.
So by the time the E-Type came out they were more than happy to put the latest components into the sports car knowing that it would be a halo to the rest of their product line and the up and coming MkX, but now the development work was being done on the sports cars rather than them being an afterthought with that suspension unit having grown out of tests carried out initially on D-Types and Like the XK engine just how right did they get that design!
sorry busy time on the forum tonight, I wrote my previous message while Lowdrag was penning his and now I've over lapped with VPR.
If you weren't there you cannot possibly understand. We were still in the throes of post-war Britain, with the telephone at the end of the street and the door key on a piece of string behind the letter box so the neighbour could come in an get some tea or sugar - which was always repaid. How when someone died the whole street gave what they could afford towards a wreath. There were two TV stations and TV ended at 22.30 but most of us only had the radio and listening to Dan Dare at 6.30 pm was the highlight of my evening. The Eagle was read voraciously and shared around. We made go-karts from old Pedigree prams, we swam in the harbour next to the untreated sewer groynes. In my street to have any motorized transport was pretty good, even if it was a motor bike, and my cousin pushed his cart around Portsmouth looking for work. Into this drab world, where a Standard Vanguard was an impossible dream and a Humber for the posh came this - well I can only say vision. It wasn't of our world; it couldn't be. It wasn't Italian but British and here. I am in the middle of writing my history of my E-type, a love affair that has lasted over 30 years, and that day is etched in my mind. There was I, walking home from school with my satchel on my shoulder, when I passed Wadham's garage. God knows how long I stood there, nose glued to the window, looking at this Carmen red vision from another planet. Yes, we had the Mini, but while that was a technological marvel it was far too dear for us, but somehow the E-type gave us wings, made us want to aspire, to achieve. For me, it was a life-changing moment.
lowdrag said:
If you weren't there you cannot possibly understand. We were still in the throes of post-war Britain, with the telephone at the end of the street and the door key on a piece of string behind the letter box so the neighbour could come in an get some tea or sugar - which was always repaid. How when someone died the whole street gave what they could afford towards a wreath. There were two TV stations and TV ended at 22.30 but most of us only had the radio and listening to Dan Dare at 6.30 pm was the highlight of my evening. The Eagle was read voraciously and shared around. We made go-karts from old Pedigree prams, we swam in the harbour next to the untreated sewer groynes. In my street to have any motorized transport was pretty good, even if it was a motor bike, and my cousin pushed his cart around Portsmouth looking for work. Into this drab world, where a Standard Vanguard was an impossible dream and a Humber for the posh came this - well I can only say vision. It wasn't of our world; it couldn't be. It wasn't Italian but British and here. I am in the middle of writing my history of my E-type, a love affair that has lasted over 30 years, and that day is etched in my mind. There was I, walking home from school with my satchel on my shoulder, when I passed Wadham's garage. God knows how long I stood there, nose glued to the window, looking at this Carmen red vision from another planet. Yes, we had the Mini, but while that was a technological marvel it was far too dear for us, but somehow the E-type gave us wings, made us want to aspire, to achieve. For me, it was a life-changing moment.
So accurate and true, resonates completely for me.Side note; I was at university in the 70s. I'd managed to get myself into a MkII Spitfire. Somebody returned in the 3rd year with an E-Type. Inadequate and envious didn't begin to describe how I felt....
Video clip from 1961...note how deserted the "new" motorways were...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib5w4pnwV1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib5w4pnwV1E
lowdrag said:
If you weren't there you cannot possibly understand. We were still in the throes of post-war Britain, with the telephone at the end of the street and the door key on a piece of string behind the letter box so the neighbour could come in an get some tea or sugar - which was always repaid. How when someone died the whole street gave what they could afford towards a wreath. There were two TV stations and TV ended at 22.30 but most of us only had the radio and listening to Dan Dare at 6.30 pm was the highlight of my evening. The Eagle was read voraciously and shared around. We made go-karts from old Pedigree prams, we swam in the harbour next to the untreated sewer groynes. In my street to have any motorized transport was pretty good, even if it was a motor bike, and my cousin pushed his cart around Portsmouth looking for work. Into this drab world, where a Standard Vanguard was an impossible dream and a Humber for the posh came this - well I can only say vision. It wasn't of our world; it couldn't be. It wasn't Italian but British and here. I am in the middle of writing my history of my E-type, a love affair that has lasted over 30 years, and that day is etched in my mind. There was I, walking home from school with my satchel on my shoulder, when I passed Wadham's garage. God knows how long I stood there, nose glued to the window, looking at this Carmen red vision from another planet. Yes, we had the Mini, but while that was a technological marvel it was far too dear for us, but somehow the E-type gave us wings, made us want to aspire, to achieve. For me, it was a life-changing moment.
Even today, a well set up E-Type is a great thing and there's a lot of love about for these. When I worked in Italy 15 years ago, the Italians had a real respect for the car. In UK, my house electrician was here the other day, saw my '63 FHC and had to remark how he loves E-Types. They are a far more capable car than an XK120, for example, although there's a lot to like in those and other contemporary cars. You like them or you don't but drive a good E before making your mind up.
The values are what they are. Annoying for those of us that have one and use one, as you don't see so many about because they get stuck in garages as investments. Mine will be there in a week or so, lowdrag (at a hill climb), and you owe me a beer from L&A wedding last August...
Cheers, Chris
The values are what they are. Annoying for those of us that have one and use one, as you don't see so many about because they get stuck in garages as investments. Mine will be there in a week or so, lowdrag (at a hill climb), and you owe me a beer from L&A wedding last August...
Cheers, Chris
lowdrag said:
If you weren't there you cannot possibly understand. We were still in the throes of post-war Britain, with the telephone at the end of the street and the door key on a piece of string behind the letter box so the neighbour could come in an get some tea or sugar - which was always repaid. How when someone died the whole street gave what they could afford towards a wreath. There were two TV stations and TV ended at 22.30 but most of us only had the radio and listening to Dan Dare at 6.30 pm was the highlight of my evening. The Eagle was read voraciously and shared around. We made go-karts from old Pedigree prams, we swam in the harbour next to the untreated sewer groynes. In my street to have any motorized transport was pretty good, even if it was a motor bike, and my cousin pushed his cart around Portsmouth looking for work. Into this drab world, where a Standard Vanguard was an impossible dream and a Humber for the posh came this - well I can only say vision. It wasn't of our world; it couldn't be. It wasn't Italian but British and here. I am in the middle of writing my history of my E-type, a love affair that has lasted over 30 years, and that day is etched in my mind. There was I, walking home from school with my satchel on my shoulder, when I passed Wadham's garage. God knows how long I stood there, nose glued to the window, looking at this Carmen red vision from another planet. Yes, we had the Mini, but while that was a technological marvel it was far too dear for us, but somehow the E-type gave us wings, made us want to aspire, to achieve. For me, it was a life-changing moment.
Thank you for evoking the moment so vividly - wonderful post It is an evocative post by lowdrag and I fully understand the love for the etype. I think values are fair. There will be plenty of dogs out there as there were plenty of cars built and like Ferrari’s et al there are enough fakes that will be their downfall when the market eventually corrects.
I personally have little love for them but that is for the same reason that I have no love for Bristol’s and it is just because of what I was subjected to as a child in places like the BRDC and other venues in the 80s and 90s bit that has no bearing on whether values are fair.
I personally have little love for them but that is for the same reason that I have no love for Bristol’s and it is just because of what I was subjected to as a child in places like the BRDC and other venues in the 80s and 90s bit that has no bearing on whether values are fair.
Some excellent and emotive posts here. I'm not a huge E Type fan but I don't have much experience of driving one; however, it's a car I love to see out and about being used. It's one of those cars that comes to life when not viewed in a book or just a photo. It has a gravitas in the flesh that a photo can't convey.
lowdrag said:
This is the cover photo from 17/3/61, the edition that featured the launch of the E-type. Leaf springs, solid axle, asthmatic engine etc. The common cannon fodder of the day.
Then one opens up the magazine to see this:-
Chalk and cheese really.
Apart from the cover photo, it also shows how motoring magazines have "dumbed down" over the years.Then one opens up the magazine to see this:-
Chalk and cheese really.
lowdrag said:
If you weren't there you cannot possibly understand. We were still in the throes of post-war Britain, with the telephone at the end of the street and the door key on a piece of string behind the letter box so the neighbour could come in an get some tea or sugar - which was always repaid. How when someone died the whole street gave what they could afford towards a wreath. There were two TV stations and TV ended at 22.30 but most of us only had the radio and listening to Dan Dare at 6.30 pm was the highlight of my evening. The Eagle was read voraciously and shared around. We made go-karts from old Pedigree prams, we swam in the harbour next to the untreated sewer groynes. In my street to have any motorized transport was pretty good, even if it was a motor bike, and my cousin pushed his cart around Portsmouth looking for work. Into this drab world, where a Standard Vanguard was an impossible dream and a Humber for the posh came this - well I can only say vision. It wasn't of our world; it couldn't be. It wasn't Italian but British and here. I am in the middle of writing my history of my E-type, a love affair that has lasted over 30 years, and that day is etched in my mind. There was I, walking home from school with my satchel on my shoulder, when I passed Wadham's garage. God knows how long I stood there, nose glued to the window, looking at this Carmen red vision from another planet. Yes, we had the Mini, but while that was a technological marvel it was far too dear for us, but somehow the E-type gave us wings, made us want to aspire, to achieve. For me, it was a life-changing moment.
I was there too and the impact of E-Types was huge. But different times - not much cash around , folk who liked cars had some smokey old MG or Triumph and to see a Lotus meant a red letter day. But by the mid /late 60s , even in the industrial West Riding , where I grew up , E -Types became a fairly common sight . Unlike Astons- we would get the bus to Leeds to look through the Aston dealer's show room window to ogle the DB6 and that became our new favourite - get that Kamm tail..... But then I saw the 275 and everything else looked staid - only six cylinders ? Only 3 carburettors? Pah ...
lowdrag said:
This is the cover photo from 17/3/61, the edition that featured the launch of the E-type. Leaf springs, solid axle, asthmatic engine etc. The common cannon fodder of the day.
Then one opens up the magazine to see this:-
Chalk and cheese really.
And only five years after the launch of the DS.Then one opens up the magazine to see this:-
Chalk and cheese really.
TooMany2cvs said:
And only five years after the launch of the DS.
What has that to do with the price of cheese, pray? Technological marvels abound through history. Mitsubishi pay homage to the invention in 1904 of the balancer shaft by Lanchester, The Traction Avant was a milestone in FWD cars. But we don't seem to celebrate many anniversaries just like we celebrated the 50th of the Mini and the E-type, to my recollection. The word we seek is"icon" and while the DS is admirable, it has never caught the public's imagination just like the two above. Maybe it should have, but frankly it didn't. To be able to change a wheel without a jack is admirable, but not something that immediately comes to mind. The DS was slippery, comfortable, avant-garde, but personally I could never get used to the braking system. A wonderful car, but the thread is about E-types.Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff