If tampering with anything by Jaguar was a toxic brief for coachbuilders in the 1950s and '60s, then to meddle with the E-type seemed like a crime of arrogance akin to scrawling a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Why take the world's most beautiful car' and make it something less than beautiful? Predictably, the E-type did not prove to be a fertile playground for lily-gilders in period, although a handful tried.
Not lacking in ego, stylist Raymond Loewy thought he could do better, but the brutish 1966 XKE he had made for his own use (which is still around and still very original) seems less heretical than his attempts to improve on the BMW 507 a few years previously. About the origami Guyson E12 roadster of the early 1970s the less said the better, other than to express surprise that the firm actually built two of them.
In some ways, Bertone's radical, Lamborghini Espada-like Pirana concept car from 1967 manages to get away with it, because its E-type underpinings are almost incidental to the concept of producing a Daily Telegraph colour supplement sponsored 'ideal' car.
Not so the Frua Jag of 1966. Still indisputably an E-type, albeit in a fussier, less harmonious form, it aroused very mixed feelings when shown at the Geneva Salon that year. Reworked details that appeared acceptable in isolation - mainly the heavy front bumpers and miniaturised MkX grille - looked like a false beard and dark glasses on a familiar face. Much less obvious was the fact that the altered bonnet was heavy enough to affect the handling at first, due to the patchwork of fabricated and brazed sections used to reshape it by Frua's coachbuilder, Italsuisse of Geneva.
The car was a useful 6in shorter than the original, although some of that advantage was lost to the boxy rear bumper, which framed the chunky tail-lights and protruded awkwardly from that previously shapely rump.
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Denne historien er fra January 2023-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring