Ah, these pictures prodded me to the old maxim, "never drive your heroes"......
Possible sacrilege to follow???
As a youngster, I only ever had 2 car posters on my bedroom wall, the E-type and a Lamborghini... I never was that interested in cars, preferring motorcycles so they vied for wall space with MV's Nortons, Beezas and Triumphs.....
Obviously brochures pilfered from Motor Shows which back in those days alternated between Earls Court and Olympia I recall.
I drove a lambo years back and recall it was nowhere near as awkward to drive as I had been led to believe, in fact going forwards it was very pleasant indeed - wouldn't want to reverse park the thing though and at 6'2" I'm taller than most....
But up to just over 3 years ago I'd never driven an E-type. Then out of the blue I got to drive 2 in the same day!!
An old friend owns these 2, one a late '60's 4.2 drop head, the other a US import V12 roadster. Over a coffee he just tossed me the keys to them!
As I said at the top, never drive your heroes.... Whilst the Jaguars are by far IMHO the prettiest cars ever made, I did not enjoy the 4.2 at all. Where do I start? It went well but neither the steering nor the brakes inspired any confidence at all, the former being heavier than I expected, the latter just lacking bite. It was very comfortable through the lanes but wasn't that easy to see where the corners are, particularly at the front, leaving me nervous at dinging that gorgeous bonnet!!
The V12 however I could have lived with. OK, not a sports car but clearly wasn't intended to be, but as a grand tourer it was excellent. If I had to be picky both the steering and brakes felt over-assisted, but still light years better than the earlier car... Possibly the US export spec had something to do with that. Also, being a roadster all-round visibility was superb. Still worried about where the front of the bonnet was though!!
Bear in mind my "car of choice" is a 1975 Reliant Kitten!!!! Though admittedly I can be persuaded to drive the wife's chariot, a 60 plate Peugeot Partner Tepee, which, for an upholstered van is actually quite decent...... Why oh why they fitted a 130bhp 1600cc twin ohc vvt engine in it though is a mystery to me (this has the later BMW-derived chain cam engine) - it is somewhat over powered for the chassis! Plus the gearing wasn't changed for the engine, just under 4000 rpm at 70 is Kitten territory. Surprisingly frugal on petrol though.
So IF I won the lottery, neither Jaguar nor a Lambo would be on my wish list - rapidly approaching the legendary threescore and ten so neither would be appropriate anyway
In fact the only vehicle I've mentioned would be the MV (Augusta)....... possibly!
John