Jaguar E-Type Roadster Wrecked Right After Complete-Restoration
Crashes always make me cringe, but after hearing the story behind this 1973 Series III Jaguar E-Type Roadster from East Cambridgeshire, it made me cry.
Last week, local authorities in the English town posted these pics on Facebook, along with a brief description of what happened. Apparently, the roadster had recently been through a complete restoration, only to be wrecked shortly into its new life.
The way the Roadster is gently crunched around the lamppost looks like it was driven at neighborhood speeds, which was smart, but not enough to save the front end. Authorities said weather had been sketchy, and it’s lucky the driver walked away. My driving POV is U.S.-based, so after eyeballing the pictures, it’s hard to tell how the E-Type ended up against the lamppost. No crash data from the bobbies was posted. And I don’t see skid marks, which is odd.
What I do see is there likely isn’t much damage to the 5.3L V12 engine. It appears that the major issue is frame disfigurement, along with mangled suspension bits and body parts. From what I can pick out, they’ll need to correct the bonnet, under-bonnet cowling, oval grille, vertical bumper overrides, and passenger-side headlight. Hopefully they’ll be able to restore it back to driving shape (again) by straightening the frame, refitting the bonnet hinge and other parts, and then matching that hot red paint.
I couldn’t even imagine being in the position of shelling out to restore the same car twice. Can you?