Wow, what a car! I was driving home last night and I came up behind one at the outside of a set of the lights. It was a red old J reg (***222J) version (god knows what year) and was a coupe not roadster, he was edging at the lights waiting for them to change, but I have never seen anyone drive these things fast, and I was shocked when he nailed it from the lights I followed, but at a distance and it was really quick but no match for the S. He went into the roundabout quite committed and I gave chase. I followed him for about 5 miles on dual and single carriageway having a bit of fun, overtaking and accelerating hard. Then when we got onto the A52 towards Grantham (long straight bit) he pulled over and let me past giving me a big wave and toot of the horn, and I let him hear 9000 rpm

It was really good to have a play with someone who was very sensible, but drove well. It was also good to hear and see one of these amazing cars being driven 'properly'. Put a big smile on my face driving home last night

 

Ive driven a series one 4.2 litre 1960's E-Type, the amount of respect you get on the road is unbelievable - and the sense of occassion is fantastic.

In terms of driving tho - that guy must have had balls, the brakes seemed to have kind of a time delay effect, and it barrelled into corners - mind you i never pushed it that hard it would have seemed rude to do so somehow. It felt brisk but not "quick" as i remember, maybe because of the cars sheer size.

The engine sound is amazing, my S2000 sounds like a gerbil farting by comparison.

R.

 

mmm ..
love all E-types apart from the V12.

it's never going to catch an S, no fuel injection and only 4 gears is quite a big disadvantage...however you feel you are going much much faster in one of those than when you are in Honda.

 

The thing could have been half as fast and would have still had the same respect for it ... awesome.

 

1971, Moff.

I've been for a ride in one, and it's not a pleasant experience.

The car squirms about on its skinny crossplies, the nose lifts at speed and it has no brakes.

Having said that, it smells wonderful, sounds wonderful, looks wonderful and it is definitely a memorable experience.

Given it was a wondercar in 1960, it shows how far things have come.

The V12 is so different (1/2 way to an XJS really) it can't really be compared to a pure E-type.

 

My uncle had one of the last V12's in 1975. He got beaten away from the lights by a Jensen FF, so he had the engine removed and blueprinted. Power went up from 280 - 330bhp. I fell in love with sports cars the say he took me out in it.
Unfortunately he misjudged a corner in it, ran wide and had a head on crash with a Morris Minor. The driver died, my uncle went through the convertible top and landed 20 feet in front of the car - his friend in the passenger seat got pinned by the gearbox when it burst through the transmission tunnel. My Uncle spent 6 weeks in hospital with various broken bones. He spent 6 month in prison shortly after (dangerous driving).

A colleague at work is a member of the Classic Car club (as featured in Evo). He had a 4.2 E-type for two days. He loved the performance but the handling and brakes really disappointed him. So far he has an AM V8, Honda NSX, Bentley turbo, E-type, Mercedes 280SL, S2000 and a Mitsu Evo 5. His favourites were the NSX and the AM V8. He recently bought a Boxster !!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by M@verick
Ive driven a series one 4.2 litre 1960's E-Type, the amount of respect you get on the road is unbelievable - and the sense of occassion is fantastic. .

 

One of the most beautiful cars around!

While queueing for the Ferry crossing to France last year we were behind one. The bloke had no end of people commenting and staring!

If I were a millionaire there would definately be one in my garage next to the AC Cobra!

Edd

 

Buy one now.

They'll never be as cheap again.

 

Love em, love em, love em

A lot of the restored models have had the suspension tightened up and flattened out along with the gearbox replacements they normally do