Controversial Jaguar E-type at SEMA
The 1961 Jaguar XKE was sleek and beautiful
The original Jaguar E-Type design revealed in 1961 was sleek
and beautiful but with added regulations in the United States market, the XKE
gained side marker lights in 1968, and with new light standards in 1970, the sleek covered headlights were replaced with larger exposed headlights and oversize
turn signals.
By 1974 with US government mandates
the XKE had grotesque additions
Model year 1974 brought about new bumpers to comply with the
Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Saving Act. This new regulation required no
damage to the car’s lights, safety equipment and engine in angled 5 mph impacts.
To comply, Jaguar added large square rubber bumper guards both front and rear. The
once-sleek XKE design became a grotesque caricature in the eyes of purists.
author photo
Chip Foose the custom car builder and star of the “Overhaulin’”
reality television show built a “resto-mod” 1974 Jaguar XKE Series 3 Open Two
Seater (OTS) over a period of two and a half years in Foose’s Huntington Beach
shop. This Foose creation was shown at the BASF/Glasurit paint booth at the
2019 Specialty equipment Market Association (SEMA) show.
author photo
Up front, Foose Design built a power bulge with a scoop into
center of the hood, crafted a new Ferrari “egg crate” style grille and built sleek
new bumpers. In place of the original 1974 upright oversized “bug eyed” E-Type
headlights Foose Design hand-shaped new brass bezels for the new covered headlights.
author photo
Out back, the Foose team removed the gas filler door and
radio antennae, built new taillights into the fenders in place of the originals,
and crafted new bumpers. The car was converted
into a true roadster with no roll-up windows and no top and the interior received
the Foose touch to make it clean simple and elegant.
factory photo
The Foose Design dashboard is a
huge improvement over the original
author photo
The controversial aspect of this build is under the long
front-tilting clamshell hood. Foose discarded the original all-aluminum
326-cubic inch Jaguar V-12 engine in place of a 378-cubic inch Chevrolet LS3 V-8 crate engine, breathing through a Magnaflow
quad exhaust, connected to a General Motors 4L60-E four-speed automatic
transmission.
author photo
The car rides custom-built 20-inch wheels complete with knock-offs wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tires that evoke
memories of car’s original wire wheels. The custom bodywork is covered in BASF/Glasurit
Refinish 90-Line metallic basecoat and clear coat paint system in a custom-mixed
“Palm Copper” color created by Chip Foose.
Glasurit advertises that its 90-line paint system is highly efficient to use, with less time needed in the paint booth thanks to fast application
and short flash-off times. Another benefit is that less material is needed, thanks to the excellent
hiding power and the low amount of mixing base in the ready-for-use mixture
which is can be thinned with water.
Check out BASG Glasurit's website at http://refinish.basf.us/brands/glasurit/
All photos of the Foose Design Jaguar by the author
