Jaguar E-Type Series I (updates)

After a long hiatus and finally having the time and mood to sit down and do another article, I will be somewhat reviewing a car which I’ve reviewed before, but this time she has gone through some changes. Over the period, I’ve managed to ‘rub shoulders’ and take some shots with a number of very nice cars which were in car shows as well as in personal collections. But after pending for so long, I’ve decided to do this article first.

This article is about none other than the Jaguar E-Type Series I as per the title suggests. This Jaguar E-Type Series I has been reviewed before somewhere last year and after that it was sent in by the owner for some major changes and the most obvious one being it’s new colour. I will not be posting too many photos of the whole car as I’ll be only concentrating on the updates and upgrades that were done on this car.

Bell exhaust

The first major change as mentioned earlier is the colour. It was changed from white to a bright red. Compared to it’s earlier colour, this red will certainly get your head turning even when you notice the car from afar and when coupled with it’s equally attractive red interior, the car is definitely a ‘red’ head turner if you know what I mean :) You’d be surprised at the details the paintjob was done in. As one would expect is that the engine bay would have been emptied to enable the spraying to be done but this was not the case. As the engine bay photos show, the paintjob done in the engine bay is excellent. 

The other notable change the car has had was its brand new Bell exhaust system all the way for the United Kingdom. As for the rest, I will just let your eyes feast on it’s latest colour and it’s detail. The owner is still planning for further upgrades in the near future and I would definitely keep you guys posted. Till my next write up, which I hope will be soon.

A must have shot :)

 

Jaguar XJL 2.0 Ti (X351)

 
What is probably the first write-up of a ‘new’ Jaguar here and certainly the most eye-catching new Jaguar at least to my eyes, is the Jaguar XJ. The Jaguar XJ (codenamed X351) is one of the first models to be rolled out by Jaguar since the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover by Tata Motors in 2008 (do check out an earlier write-up ‘The History of Jaguar’). Being a new model as well as being launched by the new owners, the XJ was certainly a car that had to impress its critics and its German competitors.

The new XJ came with a short wheel-base model as well as a long wheel-base model known as the XJL. The XJL, even in Malaysia is a more common sight when compared with its short wheel-base counterpart as it was launched before the shorter sibling. There are a number of engine variants available which include petrol as well as diesel. The smallest being the 2 litre petrol inline 4 turbo-charged up to the biggest which is the 5 litre V8 petrol super-charged. There were two transmission variants available which were the 6-speed automatic for the pre-2012 models and the 8-speed automatic for the post-2012 models.

The older XJ (left) and the newer XJ, more than 30 years apart

Design wise, it was the brainchild of renowned Jaguar designer Ian Callum. It was a totally new design away from all previous XJs with its curves and a swept-back rear. As the previous XJ, the new XJ also had a full aluminium body which kept the weight of the car low even though it was huge in size. The XJ also has an impressive interior which of course kept getting better with the higher specification models.

I personally was given an opportunity to feel this car thanks to a few good friends of mine. The model available to me was the 2014 XJL 2 litre petrol turbo-charged which featured the 8 speed automatic transmission. At first, I was a little sceptical about its power as though it was aluminium bodied, it was still a huge car with a relatively small 2 litre inline 4 engine in it. But after driving it and pushing it a little I had a different opinion almost immediately as it still possessed the roar in it being a Jaguar. All in it was a great car but I did miss one thing, which are its traditional gauges as this models comes with an LCD screen for its gauges. I’ve attached some pics below together with a video for you to have a closer look at it. 

The video

Updated Section - Cars for sale

We've updated the 'Cars for sale' page with a few cars. Do check back from time to time for updates.

Jaguar E-Type Series I

Well, Christmas is just one day away and as per my word that I would do a few write-ups on some rare and interesting automobiles this month, here is another. I started off this month with an ultra-rare 1926 Rolls-Royce Twenty Tourer and so here is another rare beauty and back to the topic of my beloved Jaguars of course, the Jaguar E-Type. It’s actually been overdue for some time for me to write an article on this car but my initial plan was to write to write about the E-Type Series 1, 2 and 3 in one article but unfortunately I haven’t got any good shots of the Series 2 and the Series 3 yet hence, I’ve decided to just split the articles into the three different ones.

Classic Jaguar Wedding Rental

Check out our most famous Jaguar for rent, the well kept and well maintained Jaguar XJ6 Series III in our 'Cars for rent - Classic' page. Although a modern classic, it still has that Jaguar style. Do enquire on our very reasonable rates for the year end and beginning of 2015 wedding season. Do book early to avoid disappointments as we are quite busy during this season.

Restoration - Mercedes-Benz W108 280S (part 3)

The part 3 of this series of articles on the Mercedes-Benz W108 restoration is certainly overdue and it’s finally time to do it. If you guys have been following the part 1 and part 2, this article will not be difficult to understand. Hahaha.. Well, this is the last bit of this restoration project that I took on last year. Carrying on from part 2 where I mentioned that the car was painted, the part 3 will reflect it’s final touches in getting the car ready which includes getting all the small bits polished and ensuring that the car will be a complete one once ready.

Car in for some carburettor tuning

There were a number of mechanical items to be sorted out which included fine tuning the refurbished original Zenith carburettors, sending the fuel tank for a full clean up, getting new clutch master and slave cylinders and a few more (I’ve only mentioned what I would consider the major ones). Once all the above were sorted out, it then came to the final cosmetic detailing which included a full interior clean up and also a brand new set of tyres and to accompany the tyres were a set of white walls and it’s sparkling colour coded chrome wheel caps.

It still had a few more interior fittings to do before the car was sent to a motor show for display and below are some of the shots of the car once completed. Some of the photos may make the colour look a little different as they were taken from different cameras but the first picture above is the most accurate one just in case you were wondering what the actual colour looked like. All in all, I must say it was quite a challenging time restoring this car especially when it came to sourcing parts but it was well worth it. Now time to move one to another project which may be another Mercedes or a Jaguar or perhaps, an American? Hhhmmmm... Well, let’s see what time has in store...