REINTERPRETING THE LEGEND
From famed carrozzerie to men in sheds, the results of those who dared to mess with William Lyons’ masterpiece
Few cars, if any, have sent designer types into raptures quite like the Jaguar E-type. This was a car for beautiful people, a star of screens large and small, and one that routinely tops lists of the most attractive cars ever made. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped others from attempting to improve upon the original.
Italian styling houses have featured among their number, as have West Coast customisers – not forgetting legendary industrial designers and aristocrats wanting something that set their car apart from those offered to those who were less blue-blooded. Some were fairly accomplished, others were beaten to within an inch of their lives by the ugly stick. None were boring. Which, we’re surmising, was rather the point.
1 Bertone Pirana
One of the more widely-publicised E-type-based confections, the Pirana was conceived by The Weekend Telegraph’s editor, John Anstey, and his staff. It was meant to represent the very best of contemporary car design; the GT ideal. Anstey then set about making it real, having first persuaded Jaguar to part with a 4.2-litre E-type 2+2 chassis. Nuccio Bertone was responsive to Anstey’s overtures, and agreed to complete the new coachwork in time for the then-unnamed car’s debut at the October 1967 British International Motor Show. Connolly, meanwhile, agreed to provide its finest leather for the cabin, while Sundym would make the bespoke glazing. Bodied in steel, save the aluminium doors, and styled by the never-boring Marcello Gandini, the resultant creation was undeniably exotic and in many ways foretold the Lamborghini Espada. The car was transported to Earls Court in time for its big reveal and became an international cover star. The Pirana cost a rumoured £20,000 to build (roughly £370,000 in new money), but was intended from the outset as a show car. There was never any intention of making replicas.
Anorak fact Once it completed its tour of the world’s motor shows, the Pirana was sold in 1969 for £16,000 (around £270,000 adjusted for inflation)
2 Bubble Top Kustom
The 1960s featured several E-types – or rather XKES – being refashioned by leading customisers in the USA. Chuck Leatherwood’s ‘Pinocchio,’ for example, was still recognisable as a Jaguar, but here was something else entirely. Cited by some as a product of George Barris’ body shop, it wasn’t. In 1963, Bobby Freedman commissioned Richard ‘Korky’ Korkes to rework his year-old roadster, extensively modifying the nose while adding the bubble tops that were briefly all the rage in customising circles. Not one bubble, but twin ‘globes’ divided by a centre panel and banded with aluminium. A hit at shows and a media magnet, it impressed Barris sufficiently for him to offer Korkes the role of shop foreman, relocating him from the east to the west coast. He went on to build several cars for Hollywood glitterati. Anorak fact Barris customised an XK120 and modded the Boano XK140
3 Pichon et Parat
Raymond Loewy was a design colossus, but he wasn’t above reworking (some might say ruining) exotica. His first Jaguar – an XK140 – was rebodied by Boano. His second was a 1966 4.2-litre E-type, for which he engaged Bernard Pichon and André Parat to turn his vision into reality. Their tiny carrosserie had previously created a hideous Cadillac Series 62 to Loewy’s exacting brief, and the E-type was no less out-there. The nose was shortened by 250mm (9.8in), modifications stretching to a quad-headlight arrangement sited behind Perspex covers. The oval grille was enlarged, the rear end was truncated by 120mm (4.7in), and Chevrolet Corvair tail-light clusters were substituted. The dual exhausts were re-routed so as to splay out at a 45º angle. And the icing on the cake was a roof-sited glass spoiler. The interior, in contrast, remained standard. Anorak fact The third owner shuttered the Loewy E-type away for 40 years. It was sold – in need of restoration – in 2011 for £98,472
4 Harold and Maude
Arguably the greatest love story ever committed to celluloid, Harold and Maude centred on the unlikely romance between a death-obsessed young man and a free-spirited Holocaust survivor; one who happened to be in her late 70s. This 1971 film is awash with memorable moments, some key incidents revolving around the XKE roadster that Harold is gifted as a substitute for his Cadillac hearse. He doesn’t want the car and further enrages his mother by transforming the Jaguar into… a hearse. It later ends up departing this life via a cliff. The car – possibly a Series 11/2 model with a 2+2 windscreen (retaining the earlier cars’ three windscreen wipers) – looked amazing even if it wouldn’t have performed well transporting coffins: the rear ‘door’ wasn’t functional. The tail-lights, meanwhile, were lifted from a Datsun 510. An exacting replica has been built by film fan Ken Roberts. Anorak fact The outline of the BMW Z3 M Coupé was reputedly inspired by the Harold and Maude Jaguar
5 Drogo Tadini
Deciphering the actual and the apocryphal is no easy task when it comes to Piero Drogo. The Grand Prix-occasional-turned-coachbuilder was unbelievably prolific during the 1960s, as he and his partners operated under various aliases in the shadow of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. While he was well-known for clothing competition weaponry, his name having retrospectively been applied to several cars he didn’t fashion, his tiny carrozzeria also reworked used exotica.
Among the least well-known is the E-type ‘Tadini.’ In early 1968, Drogo was approached by a French businessman who had crashed his six-yearold Jaguar. He tasked the Piedmontese with creating a new, more angular outline styled along the lines of the contemporary Maserati Ghibli. The car was completed that same year and appeared in the May 1968 edition of Auto Italiana. It reputedly still exists, too.
Anorak fact A near-identical body was applied to a Ferrari 250GT SWB
6 Twin E
Sir William Gordon-cumming owned several E-types, one being tailored to his particular tastes by Abbey Panels via the Jaguar works in 1965. It boasted twin headlights among other changes, which led to the sixth Earl of Cawdor commissioning something similar. In addition to the reworked headlight arrangement, louvres were sunk into the bonnet sides. The 1965 Series 1 4.2 fixed-head was one of three E-types owned by the nobleman, all of which were crashed at some point. He was fortunate to survive a ghastly accident in Wales aboard his twin-headlight car, from which he was ejected via the roll-back sunroof. The car remained in the family until 2003, its subsequent keeper restoring it to period specification. A third E-type was purportedly built with this headlight arrangement, but this is open to conjecture. Anorak fact Cawdor subsequently owned several Ferraris. He crashed those as well
7 Frua
Pietro Frua is remembered for creating crisp, elegant silhouettes. Scroll back to the 1960s and it wasn’t uncommon for publications to talk of ‘The Frua Line.’ Nevertheless, his take on Jaguars continues to divide opinion. In addition to creating an S-type for Milanese agent Fattori e Montani (C&SC, November 2020), he also reworked an E-type. Strictly speaking, this was a restyle rather than a complete redesign; one that was initiated by the well-known dealer and race entrant John Coombs. He envisaged selling ‘boutique’ E-types, specially tailored for his most discerning (and wealthy) customers. The prototype was displayed at the 1966 British International Motor Show at Earls Court, the car having emerged from Frua’s Torinese artisans with 250mm (9.8in) removed from the nose, while the bonnet bulge was substituted by an air scoop. A new grille was added, and the tail section was now somewhat truncated. Customers remained conspicuously absent, though, so the Frua E-type remained unique.
Anorak fact The prototype was later reworked by Italsuisse, which added, among other things, an angular full-width rear bumper
8 Guyson E12
William Towns’ protean output fluctuated between the sublime and the, well, less sublime. More than any other British stylist, the Midlander was at the sharp end of the ‘folded paper’ design fad during the 1970s. In many ways, the Guyson E12 marked the jumping-off point for his blunt-pencil-and-ruler odyssey. Towns had been employed by Guyson International to pretty-up the firm’s bead-blasting machines. The company’s MD, Jim Thompson, was well-known in hillclimbing circles, and a handy driver, but he still managed to rearrange his highly-tuned E-type S3 one wet evening. This led to him tasking Towns with creating a new body for the car. The Guyson E12 emerged in 1974, the E-type’s signature curves being hidden beneath new glassfibre panels that were grafted on to the existing sheet metal. A second car was then built for Towns’ own use on a ’ 72 donor, which also gained a T-roof arrangement and flying buttresses. The conversion was offered to the public but there were no takers.
Anorak fact Towns’ own car was later restored back to factory spec
9 Foose Design
Revealed amid much hoopla at the 2019 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Chip Foose’s take on the E-type remains contentious. Built at the behest of Glenn Woolsey over a two-and-a-half-year period, and based on a 1974 V12 model, little was left unmodified. The designer and Overhaulin’ star reworked the wingline, created a new bonnet scoop, grille opening and bespoke lighting treatments front and rear. The bootlid was 127mm (5in) longer relative to the original, the rear-end appearing even more tapered than the time-defying 1961 Series 1. Inside, the dashboard was also new. But if the physical makeover didn’t upset the purists, the insertion of a 525bhp 6.2-litre Chevy LS3 V8 in place of the 5.3-litre, sohc-per-bank V12 certainly did.
10 Williams & Pritchard
Williams & Pritchard in London was once the coachbuilder of choice for the likes of Lotus, Lister and other motorsportrooted marques. It also crafted all manner of one-offs and small-series offerings, up to and including the Jaguar Xj-s-based Rapport Forte. While famed as a metal-shaper, the Edmonton concern followed many of its rivals into moulding aftermarket equipment from glassfibre. These spanned from aerodynamic nosecones to hardtops, the E-type Sebring GT seen here being its most sophisticated. Marketed from 1968, it was a bit more involved than ostensibly similar offerings from the likes of Ashley. It boasted rear buttresses that prophesied the XJ-S styling treatment, the conversion stretching to a Kamm-style tail – complete with a specially-made bootlid, and rear quarter-windows. It looked sexy in profile, but rather less so when viewed from the rear. You too could have a Sebring Jaguar for £201 (roughly £3500 in 2020) including paint and headlining. Estimates vary as to how many E-types were so converted, but it was probably fewer than 10.
Anorak fact Williams & Pritchard reworked an S2 fhc in 1970 for Sir William Gordon-cumming. It featured a cropped, Ferrari-esque rear end