It's not often you see a matte-black E-Type

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 04/09/2014 at 06:39 • Filed to: None

4

9

I like it.

McMike > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/09/2014 at 07:18

1

Series 3 2+2.

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicl…

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > McMike 04/09/2014 at 08:48

0

I thought it looked familiar. Great looking thing, although I could do without the SBC. You can tune the V12 into an utter, utter monster. Bore and stroke it out to a honking 10 litres, although ~8l is the sweet spot of displacement-vs-usability.

McMike > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/09/2014 at 09:21

0

Yeah. I don't like touching the classics, but in this case he rescued it. a S3 coupe is 5th (out of 8) in pecking order of E-Type models, and was more grand tourer than sports car (as with all the Series 3 cars)

Doing all that work, I don't know why he didn't bother chopping the top and fixing the worst part of those cars (the 2+2 roofline).

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > McMike 04/09/2014 at 09:31

0

Yeah, it's hard to argue against anyone's modifications if they saved the car from the scrapper. That's part of the reason I constantly look for ratty cars on eBay. If I end up cocking something up, I won't have wasted a nice car.

I wonder that as well actually. You can see that there's tons of headroom to spare. A little lower roofline and maybe a little more rake to the windscreen and it'd be perfect.

McMike > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/09/2014 at 09:43

1

A little lower roofline and maybe a little more rake to the windscreen and it'd be perfect.

That perfection already exists. They call it the Series 1&2 Fixed Head Coupe . (top)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > McMike 04/09/2014 at 09:47

0

...and while you're at it shorten the wheelbase a little as well ;)

Actually, I wonder whether the work to do that would outweigh the price differential of an S3 2+" to an S2 FHC. Most cars, not a chance, but E-Types have inflated like 911s over the past 10 years.

McMike > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/09/2014 at 10:25

0

That's a good question. I don't think it would be worth it to create a clone FHC out of a 2+2. They just aren't rare enough.

It isn't like the creating a Ferrari Daytona Spider clone. You can make money taking the top off of a 365 Daytona because there were just a little over 100 spiders made. You'll never see spider money, but you'll get more.

The E-Type wasn't exactly a rare car with 70K produced.

Here's the list of the pecking order I was talking about .

S1 OTS*

S3 OTS

S2 OTS

S1 FHC

S3 2+2

S2 FHC

S1 2+2

S2 2+2

Note there is no S3 FHC, since all S3 coupes were 2+2s. Even the OTS carried the longer wheelbase, too.

*I didn't bother to include the added displacement in 1965, the late S1 facelift called the "Series 1.5," or the early, very rare, flat-floor models.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > McMike 04/09/2014 at 11:11

0

Interesting. I'd definitely place the S2 OTS over the S3 OTS. For me that's the pick of the bunch. It's got the proportions of the early cars, the bigger engine that actually hit the numbers claimed for the early car and a much improved gearbox.

I love Jay Leno's SWB S3 OTS. I think that was a converted 2+2, but it's absolutely fantastic :)

McMike > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 04/09/2014 at 11:35

0

I remember seeing that Leno video before. I forgot that he got it from XKs unlimited.

Actually, the US series 2 cars (like everything else in the 70s) were so goddamn choked by primitive attempts at emissions compliance, that they were pretty gutless.

HP dropped from 265 to a little over 170 back in 1969. The V12 brought it back up to what the S1 cars were making, but the car was a lot heavier.

I just looked through some prices over at Hemmings, and was shocked at where (like you said earlier) E-Type prices have gone. It's hard to determine value/condition from ads, but after looking at this S2 OTS , I need to up my coverage.