Interesting side by side comparison

 

Wow! That really highlights how big cars are getting these days. It's no wonder it's getting more and more difficult to squeeze out of a car in a parking space.

 

Although some of us have another reason...

But the size difference of those cars is crazy..... I NEVER would have guessed that much of a size difference between those two cars.

 

My understanding is that in 2006 the UK passed a law that said the front of the cars had to be a minimum distance from the ground, and that is what caused the car redesign to make it taller at the bonnet. Any comments form our brothers in the UK?

 

In my early 20's I loved my E-Type Coupe but family commitments came along and it had to be replaced with a succession of XJ6 Series I and Series II's.

Fast forward a few years to my early 40's and I was in a position to have an E-Type again. Soon shelved that idea - I hadn't put on weight in the intervening years but you need to be a contortionist to get in and out of those things!

Graham

 

Perception of size can be deceiving (that's what she said

And it works both ways. When looking at photos of our generation XK8/XKR without other cars around, the car looks quite svelte. But when I started shopping around for these I discovered the car was clearly much larger than photos would suggest. On the other hand when looking at a photo of the E-type by itself, it looks sizeable. But when you happen to see one in person it is actually quite diminutive.

The impact of styling has quite an influence on how the actual size is perceived.

Doug

 

That is amazing, I can remember when an E type was a large car.

 

Surely you jest . . . LARGE???

We owned our Series 1 4.2L E-Type FHC for nearly 40 years so I was in my 60s when it moved on to its new owner - a close friend who had chased me for years to sell it to him. So my experience was long and loving and leads me to assert that those early E-Types were LARGE in only 3 ways . . . but critical ways at that . . .

They were LARGE in their length of bonnet . . . they LOOKED fast even when standing at the curb. Remember, this was the car that moved Enzo Ferrari to assert it was the BEST car design ever conceived and produced!

They were LARGE on performance . . . ours was radar trapped at 156mph down Conrod Straight at our famous Mt Panorama racing circuit . . . and all this at a time when bog standard Minis, VW Beetles and family hacks might struggle to 80mph . . . downhill and with a strong tailwind!

They were LARGE on value . . . if you were young, they appeared expensive, but many of us managed (somehow). Certainly, there was no need to cash in the family estates just to order one. Better still, once you learned how to maintain it in top tune, the E did one other thing that the precious prancing horses, raging bulls, and pitchforks somehow seemed to lack . . . they were reliable.

Alas, like Graham, age brought girth to me too. The hinges in my back no longer did their magic . . . and on the original Series 1, with its low Coupe roof . . . the "real" E-Type was a devil to get in/out of. My only consolation was that, as I put on the pounds over those years, the E-Type faired even worse. The final Series 3 car, despite the V12 engine being lighter than the XK unit . . . the all up weight of the car had grown by half a ton!

Nope . . . it has proven LARGE in one other respect - at least for us - and that is its current RESALE VAUE. For us, that translated into our 2 current mint condition Jaguars . . . and some change that we are trying to parlay up to add an immaculate 4.2L XJ Super V8.

Cheers,

 

I can assure you, when you're a Mini driver an E type is LARGE!

 

Notice one other detail ... the E-Type driver has lost most
of his hair

My recollection is that the E-Type that sat in the prized
first spot closest to the school main entrance was not
small compared even to the full size sedans in the same
lot. There was also a Triumph GT6 in the lot. The owners
of the two were rumoured by the students to having more
than a professional relationship.

The girls at the school of course noticed that the Jaguar
owner always wore a scarf ... to hide the hickey's on her
neck.