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EARLY 1963 JAGUAR XKE E-TYPE DHC ROADSTER. VIN # J63 878635Odometer shows 22. 95 miles. which appears to be original. (The speedometer was working fine when I last drove the car. 11 years ago. )This E-type has spent its life in California. I bought the car in San Juan Capistrano and before that it was in San Diego. I have owned it for over a decade. For most of that time it has been on the lift at a garage as shown in the photo! I simply have too many projects. If this sells okay. If it doesn't sell that's okay and I'll finally get around to finishing it. There are many new parts. including new Dayton wire wheels (tubeless 15" x 6") with tires and new wheel spinners. New cranberry red canvas top. New aluminum radiator. New Wilwood four piston aluminum caliper brakes with aluminum hats. Aluminum differential cover. Etc. You can see many of the new parts in the photos. including the new cranberry red convertible top. I purchased an additional set of front and rear bumpers and still retain the original bumpers (which I'd re-chrome and use if I keep the car). My plan was/is to finish the car in this silver blue with a cranberry red top and matching cranberry red interior. I've owned several series one E-types and would go to all the local shows. They are very nice cars but 75. 00 were produced and pretty much at every event there was yet another E-type. or more likely than not several XKEs. Where Ferrari made hundreds Jaguar mass produced tens of thousands. I saw Simon Cowl here in town with his Eagle and this time around I knew I wanted something special. Not your typical run of the mill. cookie-cutter E-type. The plan was /is to make this car look like a series one on the outside and inside. albeit with a lot more visual pop thanks to the stunning yet classic silver-blue exterior / red leather interior. But under the skin there would be an improvement unlike anything anyone else has done (as far as I know). A few years back I was impressed by a beautifully modified 1958 Corvette at an auction. It ended up selling for several times what a nicely restored example would have sold for! Its going to be in an auction this month and estimates are it will sell for $250-$350k. for a '58 Corvette. Under its classic 1950s hood was a modern. reliable. efficient. powerful powerplant. upgraded brakes and suspension. I wanted something like this. I was looking for something different than the version produced by Beecham in New Zealand and I wanted something less pricey be equally rapid. if not more so. than the Eagle E-type (which costs about $1. 00. 00!). So I decided I would make the ultimate E-type. The last straight six designed by Jaguar before Ford took over was the all-aluminum four valve per cylinder XJR motor. According to my information it weighs 349 pounds complete (so says the shipping invoice). more than 200 pounds lighter than the XK boat anchor which weighs in at nearly 600 pounds! The XK motor was a great motor. in the 1950s when it was originally designed. But even by the time of the E many back then would argue it was getting long in the tooth. (After all. while the D type won LeMans how many Le Mans wins does the E have?)According to In The Jaguar Scrapbook. marque historian Philip Porter published a list of weights of various Coventry powerplants "as installed on testbed. " These were taken minus fan. air cleaner. clutch. and transmission. and without any fluids. but with flywheel. electrical equipment. and exhaust manifolds. The 3. 8 came to 592 pounds! The 4. 2. which had the redesigned block with different bore spacings. scaled 605! And the 5. 3-liter V-12? A mere seven pounds heftier. at 612! There's a reason people described these Jaguar motors as boat anchors. By comparison a Ferrari V12. with twice as many pistons. rods. etc. . weighs over 100 pounds less. Jaguar realized there was a weight problem which they tried to fix by producing the XKE race cars ("lightweights") with all aluminum motors featuring special aluminum engine blocks. Also. while Jaguar back in the sixties rated the XKE motor at 265 hp most report the number is far closer to 220. The significantly lighter XJR motor stock makes over 320 hp and tuned around 400 hp. It is also reliable. uses coil on plug ignition and modern fuel injection. So I purchased a super low mileage XJR motor and had it shipped from England to Los Angeles. I also purchased a Getrag 5 speed transmission as originally fit by Jaguar to the XJ in Europe. A custom aluminum flywheel and performance clutch was prepared and the entire assembly installed in the XKE. Which is pretty much where things stand now. The motor is in the car but the restoration needs completion. Prior to taking the car apart the car was a fine running XKE but it was decades old and in need of renewing. Properly finished the E-type will be stunning to look at but also unique. fast. reliable. fuel efficient and all Jaguar. the classic E with the last true evolution of the straight six Jaguar motor. It's a project but an extremely fun and worthwhile one with a finished product that will command top dollar as it will be distinct from the other 75. 00 E-types. I don't "need" to sell this E. As I've owned it for 11 or so years now. If I don't get my asking price I'll finish the restoration and it will be a unique and highly desirable E type worth several times the price it can be had for now.
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