Sep 4, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: Jaguar Relives Its Past With a Perfect Recreation of the Racing E-Type

Jaguar Heritage
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
50 years after it started a series of racing-oriented E-Types, Jaguar is finally finishing the project.
Jaguar Heritage
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Jag-Lightweight-E-Type-reborn-140514-006-(87312)
The dozen cars weren't especially successful in competition, but their rarity and general awesomeness has made each extremely valuable.

Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
Figuring out how to build cars the old way wasn’t an easy task. Jaguar still had the on-paper designs, but not the tools or parts it stopped using decades ago.
Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
The team borrowed a few of the original Lightweights and laser scanned them to have an exact computer rendering of what they were building.

Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
But everything else was done the old fashioned way, mostly by hand.
Jaguar Heritage
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Jag-Lightweight-E-Type-reborn-140514-001-(87313)
The trickiest part was finding people with the skills to beat sheet metal into the proper—and exquisite—shape.

Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
Jaguar didn’t have to worry about modern fuel and safety regulations, but it strengthened the underbody to make the car safer in a crash.
Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type steering wheel
For things like door handles and steering wheels, Jaguar either found a very good supplier or made it itself.

Jaguar Heritage
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Jag-Lightweight-E-Type-reborn-140514-002-(87314)
Each of the original dozen Lightweights was customized, so Jaguar picked the best elements of each.
Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
That includes bigger wheels and a wider rear, the better for racing.

Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
And air inlets on the hood to help cool down a sweaty cabin.
Jaguar Land Rover
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Jaguar Lightweight E-type
The first car the team made is a prototype (pictured above), doesn’t use one of the original chassis numbers, and will not be sold. Work on the six that count starts this week.

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