I received this photo from a customer a couple days ago and I just think it’s cool and also kind of ironic, and so I thought I would share…
When I was a kid at the Jag shop – we parted out E-Types – I’ve mentioned that before. This was in the late 80’s, and we had an ad in Hemmings that said something like, “Parting out 62, 63, 65, 67, 68 Jaguar E-Types – call for needs” – because at 6 cents a word or whatever it was, you were always short and sweet with your Hemmings ads.
Ahhhh – Hemmings – I miss it. I know it’s still around, but it’s nothing like it used to be – there was no eBay or Craigslist, – hell, there was no Internet – and car guys didn’t have computers either! So the two ways to get things were by reading through Hemmings with a fine tooth comb (which you of course paid extra for First Class delivery so you would get it early and get the good deals!) – and going to Hershey – my Dad and I did both to the fullest – I have memories of actually racing him out to the mailbox on about the 6th of the month…
Anyway – back to the story – we parted out E-Types, and we got calls from Cobra replica guys ALL THE TIME for front and rear suspension parts, and that’s where alot of that stuff went – the suspension pieces were gold back then just for that reason.
Last week, a new customer came down to talk about restoring the shell on his ’66 coupe. The shell is tired and needs the works, and he’ll be bringing it down later this year. In the photos he sent me, I noticed a Cobra in the background, and he was wearing an ERA shirt when he came down, so we started out talking about Cobras, vintage racing, etc. – THEN he started eye-ing up the Devin body in the loft.
“This would be a good body for a project I’m working on now.”
“Really – what’s that?”
“Well, I’ve built 6 ERA Cobras and 2 of their GT-40 kits. The kits now use the IRS from an XJS – the width is more correct for the Cobra…” he started
“Yeah – AND they’re Posi!” – I interrupted, because my E-Type actually has a 3.07 Posi out of a European XJS…
He then went on to explain that he had purchased several ratty XJS parts cars just to get the rears for Cobras, but kind of felt guilty about all of the stuff that got tossed, and so had amassed several running V-12 Jag engines. Finally, he got a little bored with the Cobras, and asked ERA to lengthen a standard Cobra frame 6″, then installed the XJS V-12 into the Cobra chassis.
“I don’t really know what I’m going to do about the body yet, but this just seems like the type of thing people were building in the sixties and the V-12 in a small chassis like this will be cool, I think.”
I’ll SAY! Check out this photo he sent me the next day! With 6 Webers and a bulletproof T-56 6-spd, this is going to be a really cool special! I’ve done nothing but think about building him a custom body for it ever since!
And the irony is, a Cobra replica frame gave IT’S life to bring the heart of the Jag donor car back to life! I just thought that was a pretty cool story – and project!
This creation is still in it's early stages - how it will be bodied is anyone's guess at this point - but I love that part too - because THAT'S how specials were built in the 60's - you build the whole 9 yards - test it even, and THEN build a wooden buck around it that just barely covers the mechanicals and wheel up some aluminum to cover them. I love it!
