Walking back from a beautiful, but chilly post Thanksgiving beach stroll, a black Jaguar drove in to the mostly empty parking lot.
"Beautiful car", I mentioned as the driver hopped out. "Yes", he replied and continued "cars today are all blah. They design them by committee".
Indeed.
A few links on the 1964 Jaguar e-type.
LJK Setright:
It fitted like a glove, went like the wind, looked like a million dollars, and sold for a little more than a couple of thousand pounds. Even though it might be doomed in some hands to idle its life away in a top-gear London loiter, it carried about itself everywhere the immense and unquestioned authority of a car that was known to be capable of 150mph.Steve McQueen:
It’s the best-handling car I’ve ever driven.”Grok summary:
The 1964 Jaguar E-Type (Series 1, 3.8-litre) is pure automotive sculpture: a breathtakingly long, low bonnet flowing into a teardrop cabin and tapering tail, all wrapped around a monocoque tub and subframes with an almost indecent 8' 10" wheelbase-to-track ratio.
The covered headlamps, faired-in oval grille, and razor-thin chrome bumpers give it a predatory, feline tension; every curve is functional yet impossibly sensual—Malcolm Sayer’s aerodynamic background meets Enzo Ferrari’s famous “most beautiful car ever made” verdict.
From the side, the profile is a single unbroken gesture: hood longer than most cars’ entire bodies, a glasshouse that sits shockingly far back, and hips that swell just enough to hint at the power beneath.
The interior is intimate and purposeful—toggle switches, a wood-rim wheel, and those glorious bucket seats—yet still dripping with 1960s British decadence.It is the rare object that is simultaneously avant-garde engineering (four-wheel independent suspension, disc brakes, 150+ mph) and rolling art.
Even six decades later, nothing else looks quite so alive standing still.
