Author Topic: Eagle Speedster and 50th anniversary of the E Type - Top Gear  (Read 8591 times)

GGR

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Flyair

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Re: Eagle Speedster and 50th anniversary of the E Type - Top Gear
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2014, 09:45:06 »
Both cars are amazing. The E-type is a pure beauty. Pity that the quality wasn't of Mercedes level (sorry if I touched some insular sensitivities...).

Great that the E-type reincarnated in the form of Eagle Speedster. I would be curious to know how they got the right to use Jaguar logo (bought the car type certificate as it happens in aviation ?). The price commands respect as demonstrated by Jeremy Clarkson.

Speaking of Clarkson, I was amazing that given his corpulence and hight he was able to fit in the E-type. Despite external appearance of a long car, E-type doesn't offer more space for the driver and passenger than say a Fiat Panda (or the smallest of any Japanese cars for non European drivers :).
Stan
1971 280SL
2011 SL550 AMG
2011 GL
2015 GLA

GGR

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Re: Eagle Speedster and 50th anniversary of the E Type - Top Gear
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2014, 11:21:00 »
I like the idea of reinterpreting a car. Marketing, homologation rules and industrial processes make that a car is not necessarily the way a designing team would have liked it to be. In the case of the E-Type, I find the original to have a too narrow track and I find the shape and the chrome surround of the headlight covers a bit strange. Both have been corrected on the Eagle speedster. I've never owned or even driven an E-type, but I find it's shape astounding, especially the Coupe. I also like the fact that it was offering design and performance at a fraction of the price of its competition.

From articles I read the Eagle 4.7L 6 cylinder engine seems to be absolutely fantastic. However, I hope Eagle will develop a 12 cylinder version of the Speedster. Not that I will be able to afford one, but Jaguar is among the rare brands which offered a 12 cylinder engine on the market, including in the E-type. It has an aluminum block, and has a good development potential. It was also originally developed to race at Le Mans. Proteus already developed some replicas of the XJ 13, and was also offering as a kit. I don't know if they are still in business :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_HG5Ak0FHo

the Jaguar v12 can certainly do the job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if2j6yqZg0Q