The 'E' Type Forum

Good Morning to everyone.

Thanks for letting me join here despite having what many of you might consider as a 'no, no', a Challenger E type!

Anyway, I love it and the closest that I will ever get to a genuine, early Series 1! Despite the pretender, listed on eBay this morning and giving our cars a bad name ( I'm sure there will be many comments on this one on the forum in the next few days!), I'm still working on mine to try and finish it off before I get too decrepit to drive it again.

I've gleaned some very useful info. from here since joining but I was disgusted to read the eBay listing this morning which prompted me to write this!

Here's mine!

Cheers.

Do you have a link to the eBay car? I can't find anything relating to a Challenger.

Hi...Welcome to the forum....please try to add your name in the signature area.......As your aware its an E type forum.....but you dont need to own one to join in.....Im sure you will find plenty of usefull info here......I assume the ebay listing you refer to is this one....The oldest registered E type https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-Worlds-O ... ect=mobile Challenger body rover engine......it did make me smile when i saw the ad.......I have messaged the owner as he has it listed for auction.....meaning that under ebay rules he is bound to sell to the highest bidder..he has set no reserve......however in tbe description he says all bids will be ignored becaus its just an ad for the auction at Barons....lets see if he pulls it

Oh dear

The Ad is now gone from ebay

Never mind, here it is in all its gory detail.
https://www.barons-auctions.com/view-lo ... plica-mk-1

How can it possibly pass the "No M.O.T" rules? The reasoning on the website doesn't make sense. Otherwise I'll build a car, any shape, around a 1959 headlamp and claim exemption?

Hi Malcom...the DVLA rules were very different in 1995(24 years ago) when i think this was built...you could in effect build a vehicle useing a doner and register it with the doner car details as far as im aware....It could still be built and registered today but would be on a Q plate and require MOT it could not be registered now as a Jaguar but could be as a Challenger.....Personaly i can see nothing wrong as all the information is there for any potential owner to see....maybee a bit of sales hype re "the oldest registered Etype.......but if i were interested i would want proof that the DVLA has inspected the vehicle and are ok with the way its registered.....or you could possibly end up with a Q plate

Correct. Mine is registered for what it is, a Challenger E type kit car, built almost 30 years ago from Jaguar/Daimler XJ6 and E type parts when the rules were different to now. My numbers all match up with the V5 details - if they didn't, I'd get a 'Q' plate as someone I know of who has recently, on a Kougar. That wouldn't bother me in the slightest as I enjoy my car for what it is and the closest I can get to the early Series 1 that I always yearned for. I've been accused in the past of trying to pass it off as an original merely by owning it! For the uninitiated, approval was given by Jaguar to build the cars back in the day and around 300 were built.

If a 1959 Rover 90 was the 'donor' car it must have used the Rover 90 2.6 6 cylinder engine, gearbox and suspension or did it only donate its number plate?

Hi David...Challenger originaly designed to run in Ford or Rover running gear....from the Challenger web sitehttp://www.challenger-owners-club.co.uk/

Triple C started life c1984 being the brain child of a former school teacher named Derek Robinson and John Wilkinson, an engineer with English China Clay. Based in Cornwall, Triple C Cars produced a kit car with moulds taken from John Wilkinson’s own 1961 Series 1 3.8 E type but designed to take Ford or Rover running gear. These early cars are discernable by the flaring of the rear wheel arches to accept the wider axle track.
Despite the donor mechanicals, Jaguar Cars give their approval for the project and by 1986 the kit was getting some very good reviews, appearing in various magazines and even on the local television news programmes. The resulting demand persuaded Derek and John to set about redesigning the Challenger to accept both Jaguar running gear and engines therefore creating a genuine E type replica that performed as well as it looked.

Heuer wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:01 am

If a 1959 Rover 90 was the 'donor' car it must have used the Rover 90 2.6 6 cylinder engine, gearbox and suspension or did it only donate its number plate?

To the best of my knowledge, the Rover 90 never used V8 engines. They came later after Rover bought the engine rights from Buick. I think the V8 first appeared in the P5 or P5B, well into the sixties.

So as David said, it can't have used many rover parts.

It is an interesting write up and intriguing that Barons have added that disclaimer about it all being the work of the vendor (bad grammar and all).

Regards

The wright up does say the V8 was fitted later in 1995

Not much different to this lot they are also selling https://www.barons-auctions.com/view-lo ... e-creation 1937 SS100 Jaguar.. actualy built 1989.. the DVLA has it as first registered 1937

£130 to 180K for a re creation????? mad.