Today Jaguar is anouncing their return to motorsport and will contend the FIA Formula E Championship in 2016.
They will enter the third season of the all-electric championship which uses a common car designed by Dallara with the team’s choice of engine supplier.
Jaguar will use Williams Advanced Engineering for their powertrain who partnered with Jaguar on the development of the Jaguar C-X75 plug-in hybrid concept car.
This week we secured ownership of a very interesting 1967 Jaguar E-Type Coupe, serial 1E32915.
It had toured Victoria in the 1970s or early 1980s fitted with a Shelby Cobra engine. Fortunately the install was uninvasive, leaving the engine frames and picture frame intact. Futhermore, by some miracle, the original jaguar bits were saved for the XK engine including the harness rolled up near the firewall.
From what we can tell the car was painted from Primrose Yellow to bright red in the 1980s and the car was never put completely back together. So it sat for 35 odd years until just recently.
Upon close inspection this appears to be a Black on Black car from the factory which was somewhat rare. The mileage of 45XXX could be accurate aswell.
Plan is to use our MkX engine for this car and get it on the road. More to come.
Today Moss Motors released a set of videos called Identifying And Finding A Short Circuit. It’s a good primer for the novice before attempting any electrical work on an old car:
To lighten the mood let’s throw some Lucas bashing in the mix:
Lucas – Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
Lucas – Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
The three position Lucas switch – Dim, Flicker and Off.
Why do the English drink warm beer? Lucas refrigerators.
What is the motto at Lucas Electric? A good day’s work and Home Before Dark
The Original Anti-Theft Device – Lucas Electrics.
Back in the 70′s, Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which did not suck.
“I have had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never had any trou…”
A service shop full of nothing but E-Types and a parts department to build an entire new E-Type: XKs Unlimited has it all.
As a precursor to our Monterey Car Week, we headed down to San Luis Obisbo to XKs Unlimited. This is the same company that has saved our bacon in a pinch and provided the many specific parts E-Type parts on request. Pete in ordering knows every E-Type part number off the top of his head.
The facility itself is setup into two distinct operations, that being service and parts. XKs does full service and restoration work, leaving only the paint work outsourced. The parts take up a bulk of the space and are ordered in a small showroom. This time around we spotted the E-Type racecar owned by XKs Unlimited president Jason Len.
In this building is nothing but Jaguar Parts.
a peek inside the parts warehouse.
Jason Len’s E-Type racecar in the showroom.
A closer look at Jason Len’s potent E-Type racecar with bespoke bits everwhere.
Main service area
Main service area
There is a building dedicated to bodywork.
Upholstery and trimming area
XK140 being prepped for interior.
V12 bay fully restored.
A future exciting project. V12!
Machine and fabrication room.
A couple weekends ago we opened the doors to the RROC and ended up at the Highland House Farm and Roost for lunch.
It was a great excuse to get our 1935 Bentley out of storage and back on the road.
Hamish Crawford kindly showed us around his Winery including his many British cars that share space with fermentation vessels! Out of this setup comes 100% local Saanich wine such as The Laird’s Ginger Sweethart which is apparently good to mix with scotch!
