GTP Cool Wall: 1961-1968 Jaguar E-Type Series 1

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jahgee
  • 100 comments
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1961-1968 Jaguar E-Type Series 1

  • Total voters
    131
  • Poll closed .
@Famine


I wasn't trying to take a knock at you btw. I just thought it odd that you missed a very bad photoshop. You seem to have a keen eye for shops.


But I don't like the fact that you are calling it a pile because you don't like it when its very clearly not.
 
Famine
Does it?
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It actually kinda does, yes. Heavy aliasing around the wheel wells and bumper, most of the fender was just drawn on with a paintbrush tool without even trying to color match it, the parts that were stretched don't even go straight from the body but then realigns itself with the original body orientation after the wheel, etc.




And, not to drag this out too terribly far, but:
Famine
Why would it be obvious? It's a chunk of bobbah from a million miles away and so old that Rolf Harris wouldn't pork it. My care levels wouldn't even reach as high as knowing what it looked like in the first place.
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Famine
Let's assume for a second that you don't have a dangerously heavy Warnings tab that should dissuade you from making insulting field notes on other members and settle on the part where I don't really give enough of a care about awful, awful white goods that are older than you and never sold on my continent to ever commit to my memory what a "'95 Ford F150" looks like apart from being a pick-up with a Ford badge on it.
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It really doesn't seem like a particularly grievous assumption from my end to think that you taking the time to look up the wheelbase of it for the purpose of directly comparing proportions would occur without you also seeing a picture of one that wasn't badly Photoshopped. I would have argued much the same thing Slash did if I cared badly enough about old Ford trucks to do so.
 
I don't think it's anywhere near beautiful
It's overrated
The owners are usually 60 year old men who thought it would be cool to drive through tunnels
But it has intense history

"Meh"
 
Sub-Zero. It was ahead of it's time. Nothing had ever looked like it before! Wonderful engine and suspension, too.
 
Slash
But I don't like the fact that you are calling it a pile because you don't like it when its very clearly not.
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There are no words for the levels of irony just there.
Tornado
It actually kinda does, yes. Heavy aliasing around the wheel wells and bumper, most of the fender was just drawn on with a paintbrush tool without even trying to color match it, the parts that were stretched don't even go straight from the body but then realigns itself with the original body orientation after the wheel, etc.
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Looks like badly-patched, beat-up, twenty year old Ford dross to me. I still can't really see what you're talking about now - it just looks like a rustbucket pickup, fixed on the cheap.
Tornado
And, not to drag this out too terribly far, but:

It really doesn't seem like a particularly grievous assumption from my end to think that you taking the time to look up the wheelbase of it for the purpose of directly comparing proportions would occur without you also seeing a picture of one that wasn't badly Photoshopped. I would have argued much the same thing Slash did if I cared badly enough about old Ford trucks to do so.
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I can find numbers easily - I have the tools for looking up numbers, for the writing thing. I had no reason to look up a picture of the... uhhh... 'vehicle' in question, since a user provided it for me. Apparently they provided an altered image of a truck to make the nose longer to prove that i6 cars don't need long noses because... reasons.


Incidentally, it turns out that the E-Type's bonnet is around 4 inches longer than the C4 Corvette's. Clearly it's stupidly long for those extra two cylinders' length.
 
Sub Zero for sure. One of the best looking cars of all time. I think it's time to start bugging my dad to get his restored. Before it was taken apart, it looked just like the one in the photo.

Unfortunately, this it's current state :(

image (4).jpeg
 
Ahh yes.

Have ridden in one of these; words can't describe how it actually felt (well, I was also 11, so... smart thinking wasn't necessarily part of my repertoire back then.) Was an eye-opening experience & got me started on the road to liking things that weren't American.

Every time I see one, I am reminded why I like cars (and, there's about... 3 in my immediate area. One vert, two coupes.) Also am reminded of why I'm not normal for actually liking cars.

Sub-Zero.
 
Sub-Zero, easily. A very pretty car, but definitely not the most attractive ever. I must be in the minority because I think this looks better than the 2000GT. I also think the wire wheels look fine on it, I had never even thought that some people wouldn't like them. Though I prefer the wheels they used on the race car variant and the ones on the red E-Type on page two. I've never seen those ones before, they remind me of Minilites.
 
Tornado
(Toyota, for starters)
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That reminds me of another thing, actually - despite the 2000GT's massive fanboy status on the internet, I've never found it as attractive as the E-Type.

It's good-looking sure, but looks more like someone melted a 240z (I'm aware the Toyota predated the Datsun, but that's what it looks like). I'm not sure it "cleaned up the odder things about the design" either - to my eyes the grille looks pretty goofy and the "surprised but sad" pop-up headlights hardly improve matters, while at the back end the lights look like they're sitting in a baked potato tray.

The only thing the 2000GT does genuinely better than the E-Type at (to me at least - I'm aware people will disagree) is the rake of the windscreen. On the E-Type that detail has always been unavoidably upright (it's better on the low-drag, but that's not what we're voting on here), but it looks quite slick on the Toyota.
 
I agree with pretty much everything above. The part that really puts me off is the grille. I'd never noticed the odd-looking pop-ups either, and I kind of wished I hadn't; they look fine when looking at it straight on, but from the sides they just look bad.

I also prefer the shape of the windshield, and I think the best part of the 2000 GT's design when compared to the E-Type is the rear. The shape of the back of the E-type just looks... off. I can't put my finger on it. I suppose that's why it's one of few cars I think look better as a convertible than coupe.

And is it bad that I think the 240Z looks better than both of these cars?
 
Zenith
You honestly think that the majority of people who sing the supremacy of this car's aesthetics do so because they arrived at the conclusion themselves? Have you met car people before? They usually start young, naive, and impressionable enough to absorb the opinions of others rather than form their own.
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These sort of comments frustrate me a little. It seems now that some car nuts choose to go out of their way to be less impressed or even dislike a car just because its praises have been sung on Top Gear.

I am sure that there are many people who like Alfa Romeos not because Clarkson bangs on about how "you're not a true petrol head until you've owned an Alfa" but because maybe, they watched Tarquini thrash a 155 BTCC car on the TV as an eight year old (as I did) or some other similar, unrelated reason.

I have always thought the E-Type is a beautiful car, and just because Top Gear has introduced it to a much wider audience, it doesn't make the car any less pretty, or cool. I gave it a Sub-Zero.
 
GTTurtle
And is it bad that I think the 240Z looks better than both of these cars?
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I absolutely love the 240z and would own one at the drop of a hat if I had the cash lying around, but that has it's own issues design-wise. In short-nose form the front end looks unfinished and with the long nose the overhang is too long. Also suffers from the fact that for most of its car-producing history, Japan has never quite got the "details" - witness the half-assed positioning of the turn signals and reflectors on a stock Z, or my personal "favourite", the wart-like headlamp washers on an original NSX.

With a few choice modifications it's absolutely stunning and day-to-day, I'd prefer to run the Datsun over either of the others. But as a whole, I still think the E-Type is prettier.

The E-Type is very sensitive to era though. A Series I coupe or convertible is the epitome - after then, things went downhill. 2+2s aren't nearly as elegant, and the details on the Series III are truly nasty.

It's also struck me, looking through google images, that anyone who put a full chrome rim on the grille on a Series I should be punched in the back of the head, as that too looks awful.
 
The very first time I saw one of these on the road, I was struck by how long, low and sleek it was. And how pretty it was in the afternoon light, sitting there, broken down on the side of the road.

Still frickin' sub-zero. Just because it's achingly pretty.
 
homeforsummer
That reminds me of another thing, actually - despite the 2000GT's massive fanboy status on the internet, I've never found it as attractive as the E-Type.

It's good-looking sure, but looks more like someone melted a 240z (I'm aware the Toyota predated the Datsun, but that's what it looks like). I'm not sure it "cleaned up the odder things about the design" either - to my eyes the grille looks pretty goofy and the "surprised but sad" pop-up headlights hardly improve matters, while at the back end the lights look like they're sitting in a baked potato tray.

The only thing the 2000GT does genuinely better than the E-Type at (to me at least - I'm aware people will disagree) is the rake of the windscreen. On the E-Type that detail has always been unavoidably upright (it's better on the low-drag, but that's not what we're voting on here), but it looks quite slick on the Toyota.
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Fully agree. I think the E-Type is a prettier car, while the 2000GT is a more interesting, quirky design. Both have their charms, but in the 2000GT those charms are... let's say an aquired tatse, whereas in the E-Type, they're just there for you to admire.
 
Had this been solely for the coupe, I'd insta-SZ it. If we're taking the convertible into account, it gets dropped down to a Cool. There's simply too much whiff of bad aftershave and chest-hair-exposing shirts.
 
Tornado
As... curiously odd as JMoney's entire argument is from the start, the only reason the Jaaaaaaaaaaaaag six was much older than the Ford one was because they started making it in the late 1940s instead of the mid 1960s.
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That's why I said what I said...and you've seemed to misread my post.
 
homeforsummer
I absolutely love the 240z and would own one at the drop of a hat if I had the cash lying around, but that has it's own issues design-wise. In short-nose form the front end looks unfinished and with the long nose the overhang is too long. Also suffers from the fact that for most of its car-producing history, Japan has never quite got the "details" - witness the half-assed positioning of the turn signals and reflectors on a stock Z, or my personal "favourite", the wart-like headlamp washers on an original NSX.

With a few choice modifications it's absolutely stunning and day-to-day, I'd prefer to run the Datsun over either of the others. But as a whole, I still think the E-Type is prettier.

The E-Type is very sensitive to era though. A Series I coupe or convertible is the epitome - after then, things went downhill. 2+2s aren't nearly as elegant, and the details on the Series III are truly nasty.

It's also struck me, looking through google images, that anyone who put a full chrome rim on the grille on a Series I should be punched in the back of the head, as that too looks awful.
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Bolded because it's the truth.

While I'll agree that some details on the 240Z are lacking, I still find it a slightly better looking car than the other two. Like I said, the rear of the E-type and the front of the 2000GT put me off but there's not much I dislike about the Datsun. I think I'll probably call my opinion biased though, my dad loved old Datsuns and Hondas, and has probably influenced me a bit. If my dad ever has the money for a midlife crisis car, it'll be Z or, more likely, a 510.

The NSX's "warts" are pretty bad. I was wondering why they look so familiar, and I eventually realized that the Porsche Cayman has very similar headlight washers. You can even get them in a deviating exterior color- that's the best way to spend $900 I can think of.
 
GTP_Ingram
These sort of comments frustrate me a little. It seems now that some car nuts choose to go out of their way to be less impressed or even dislike a car just because its praises have been sung on Top Gear.
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I said that I think it's pretty. I don't think it's the most beautiful car in the world, but that's because of the proportions and fairly simple shape. It has nothing to do with Top Gear.

GTP_Ingram
I am sure that there are many people who like Alfa Romeos not because Clarkson bangs on about how "you're not a true petrol head until you've owned an Alfa" but because maybe, they watched Tarquini thrash a 155 BTCC car on the TV as an eight year old (as I did) or some other similar, unrelated reason.
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So you accuse me of disliking a car simply because Top Gear likes it, then provide reasoning that perhaps people have opinions on cars for reasons other than Top Gear.

You just did what I was called out earlier for.
 
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I love the way it looks, the way it sounds with the proper 3.8 engine. One of my dream cars and me thinks it's ice cold cool and subsquent SZ
 

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