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A torrent of water passed under the bridge between the in [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] A torrent of water passed under the bridge bet [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] een the introduction of the Jaguar XK 120 show car [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] at the Earls Court Motor Show in 1946 and the Geneva [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Auto Show in 1961. For one thing, armed with the potent XK [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] six-cylinder engine, Jaguar had gone sports car racing in a most [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] uccessful way. With the aerodynamic D-Type, the marque ha [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's most prestigious ro [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] d race, three years in a row. Jaguar had transitioned from
off [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ring the public a competent sports car for the street based on se [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] an mechanicals to building very specialized sports rac [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ng machinery, and then, finding the cost of world-cl [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ss competition rising ever-higher, it had pulled bac [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] from its racing commitments to concentrate again of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] cars the public could buy. With its emphasis movin [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] back toward cars for the street, William Lyons, who wou [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] d eventually be knighted for his efforts at Jaguar, lo [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ked to infuse his pro
duction cars with the flavor of his s [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] orts racing winners. One of the first attempts at this w [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] s the XK-SS, a thinly disguised D-Type fitted with just enoug [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] equipment to make it street legal. Equipped [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ith a 3.4-liter version of the XK engine essentially in ra [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] e tune, it offered 250 horsepower at 5750 rpm, a staggerin [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] figure, particularly in a car so light. Top speed was just [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] hort of 145 miles per hour. But on the other side o [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the coin, the XK-SS set one back $7,000 1957 dollars, whi
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych] e a fuel-injected Corvette of the same year cost little [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ore than half as much. Further, the Corvette wa [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] far more civilized an automobile. By 1957 it had roll-up windo [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] s and a decent convertible top, while the XK-S [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] was in most ways rudimentary. And because its engin [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] was essentially ready for the track, it proved to be a hand [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ul to drive well on public roads. Just getting it [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] oving from a standing start was often a frustrating
expe [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ience due to its lack of low-end torque, hair-trigg [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] r accelerator and recalcitrant clutch. Fewer than 20 of these li [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] tle devils had been produced in the early part [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] of 1957 when a fire raced through the Browns Lane factory where t [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ey were built. Most of the tooling for the XK-S [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] was destroyed, and Lyons, sensing that this car [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] wasn't what he really wanted anyway, decided not to r [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] sume its production. Those few that remain in exi [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] tence are rare a
nd wonderfully quirky cars indeed. Instead of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] aking the XK-SS path, Lyons set his engineering team abuilding [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] on two experimental cars that bore the "E" designation. The E1 [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] was powered by Jaguar's 2.4-liter six-cylinder engine, basical [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] y a de-stroked 3.4 liter. For its chassis structure it u [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ed a monocoque tub with a space frame carryin [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the engine and front suspension components. The front suspension [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] was, of course, an independent design, but the E1A departe [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] from the D-Type's model by using an independent rear
suspensio [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] as well. (For all its racing success, the D-Type had use [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] a fairly mundane live rear axle.) While the E1A [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] as piling up clandestine test miles, Jaguar engineers were [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] hard a work on the E2A, which many in their number [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] hoped would put Jaguar back in the motor racing spotlight. Wit [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] racing rather than volume production in mind, the E2A was [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] n exotic machine for its day. Its powerplant was an alloy [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] block version of the XK engine equipped with a racing [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] type dry sump system and mechanical
fuel injection [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] With a displacement of just a hair under 3-liters, [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] t offered 293 horsepower at a motorcycle-like 6750 rpm. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Its aluminum envelope body enclosing a monocoque tub and spa [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] e frame, the E2A would have a somewhat belated and largely [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] nsuccessful career on the racetrack. Though de [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] igned and built in 1957 and 1958, it didn't find its way to Le Ma [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] s until 1960 and then as part of Briggs Cunningham's multi-car ef [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ort that also involved Corvettes, not with a rejuvenated
Jaguar [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] "factory team." Initially fast, it quit short of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the halfway mark in the race, and that was pretty much th [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] t as far as international racing was concerned for t [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] e car. While it didn't enjoy the stunning succ [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ss of its D-Type predecessor, the E2A did set the stag [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] for the production E-Type. In fact, Jaguar's breathtakin [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] new sports car would take most of its architect [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] re from the E2A. Of course, with volume product [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] on in mind, Lyons wisely chose steel as the
p [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] imary body material. The basic tub was a monocoque of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] sheet steel to which were attached steel space f [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ames for front suspension and engine and rear suspension [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] The front suspension borrowed from Jaguar racing pra [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] tice with torsion bars as the springing medium, t [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] bular shocks controlling rebound and forged con [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] rol arms handling wheel location. The rear suspension was [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] an all-independent unit so elegantly designed that it beca [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] e a model for a wide variety of other suspensions that
would [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] follow it and even found its way under some of America's m [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] st beloved hot rods. In the scheme (a version [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] imilar to which found its way into the 1963 Corvette Sti [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] gray) the differential was mounted to the cha [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] sis sub-frame with in-board disc brakes on each side and [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] then, through universal joints, halfshafts sent p [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] wer to the rear wheels. Ingeniously, the halfshafts themselves [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] represented the upper control link while another, low [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] r arm and a link that controlled braking and
acceleration f [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] rces completed the simple but effective system. S [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] rings and damping was not nearly so simple with dual c [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] il-spring/tubular shock absorber units on each side, but [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] they were at least compact and effective. Instead of a [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] exotic alloy racing engine, Lyons decided to stick with the 3.8 [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] liter XK in-line six that was a direct descendent of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] he original XK engine in the XK 120. With fuel d [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] livered by twin Weber carburetors, the iron block engin [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] delivered 265 horsepower at 5500
rpm and 260 po [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] nds/feet of torque at 4000 rpm. Despite all this mechanical fa [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] dural the most striking part of the production E-Type was it [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] absolutely lascivious body. Try as designers might [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] o top it, the E-Type has the most sensuous lines of any car ever [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] roduced, and it is many critics' pick as the most beautif [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] l car ever made. Further description is unnecess [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ry because the look of the E-Type has become such a [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] automotive icon that at the mere mention of its name, [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the luscious picture comes to mind. The hit of the 1961
Gene [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] a show, the E-Type was offered as both a convertible [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] with an available hardtop) and a coupe, and aut [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] journalists immediately fell all over themselves pra [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] sing the car. And for good reason. The independent rear suspens [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] on provided a huge advance in handling, particularly on [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ad roads, and in street form the car had true 150 mile-per-ho [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] r potential. It was also quick enough as a drag racer [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] o find itself included in a Jan and Dean hit tune of the era, "D [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] adman's Curve." In fact, the E-Type was,
argu [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] bly, the car of the decade. With looks, style, pe [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] formance and handling, the Jaguar E-Type was everything [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] a car should be. A lot of water passed through the mi [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] l from the time the Dodge brothers built engine [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] for Henry Ford until the Dodge Viper peeked [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ut from under its wraps at the 1989 Detroit auto show. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ver the course of that time the Dodge brothers split wit [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Ford to start building cars of their own under [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the imaginative Dodge Brothers name; Dodge
Brothe [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] s was acquired by Walter P. Chrysler as he built [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Chrysler Corporation in the image of his former [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] employer, General Motors; and Dodge (sans Brothers) went [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] from an icon of performance during the halcyon years o [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] the Sixties to becoming largely irrelevant by the late E [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ghties. K-cars and Omnis will do that, no matter h [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] w proud one's history. A rapidly fading brand with a drea [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] y image were what faced Chrysler Corporation planners as the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] considered what they should do for the '
89 Detroi [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] show, and their response -- a big, brutal two-seat sports car [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] -- stood show attendees, including your author, on their collect [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ve ear. Who could have expected such a thing from a nameplate th [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] t seemed to be barely producing a pulse, lot less a vibe? [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] ut the Dodge Viper did emerge from the corporate cau [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] dron -- somehow -- and it proved there was stil [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] some life in the old Dodge brand yet. The goal of [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] what was referred to as "Team Viper" was a purpose-built pe [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] formance vehicle. Everything else took a backseat to
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