Monday, May 21

Mixed Feelings


It really caught my eye. The first I saw, it was cited as something along the lines of newlyweds depart in "vintage" car. I thought: "Cool, this is an English tradition I can endorse!" My own E-type is the same age as the one Harry and Meghan departed in. The only thing I really noticed is that it seemed odd for them to be driving a left-hand drive car away from Windsor Castle. As it turns out, theirs is a bit different. They yanked the beautiful, three carb straight six double overhead cam engine and put in a boxy looking electric motor.

I suppose these are the times we live in. Perhaps this is the way the English attempt to change to a more modern way of life. Perhaps someone at Jaguar simply overloaded on Scotch one day. What will come next for this poor car; air conditioning and power steering? Perhaps, just as the French played "God Save the Queen" using the engine of a Renault as recalled here, this is an English attempt to be more humorous than the French.

They took a Milestone Car and Stuck a Washing Machine Motor in it?

You can see more on the electric E-type here. I suppose it is better than them yanking out the engine and sticking a Chevy engine in there...

2 comments:

cafiend said...

Yeah, not sure how I feel about this. If it's a Lucas engine, they're screwed.

Steve A said...

The original engine was conceived by the management of Jaguar while sitting on a roof while watching the 1940 Blitz. They concluded that the starting point ought to exceed the prewar engine with room for growth. They wound up winning LeMans five times with the result. 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956, and 1957. Even in 1961, a prototype E-Type came in fourth - with an engine conceived more than 20 years previously. It was one of the great engines of all time. Unlike the "electric" E-Type, it did NOT look like a generic box. Instead, it had GOBS of cast and polished aluminum. Jaguar made every item you'd actually SEE into a work of art. The stuff you didn't see was, like Lucas, cheap junk. It is why it now costs over $5K to fix the rear brakes in a Jaguar E-Type.

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