The 'E' Type Forum

Not sure if its been on before, but must be worth a watch..
tonight channel 4. 8pm..

Mark Evans witnesses the reconstruction from scratch of a Jaguar XKSS, the first time this historic road-going conversion of a race car has been built since its original creation in the 1950s. Only 16 of the cars were ever made, but they dominated the Le Mans circuit and are now among the most sought-after cars in the world.

Thanks for posting....not to be missed...recording set up

Yes, well done for letting us all know.
As with Steve - will be recorded.


Thanks

Here‘s the Lightweight programme with Mark Evans:



Carsten

Thanks for heads up...v interesting programme!

mystery type wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 27, 2019 2:41 pm

Only 16 of the cars were ever made, but they dominated the Le Mans circuit and are now among the most sought-after cars in the world.

Weren't they road cars built from left over D Type shells?

Regards

Weren't they road cars built from left over D Type shells?

Yes they were. 25 D Types were sidelined for the SS but only 16 made it, the rest perished in the devastating factory fire. If I have understood the programme correctly ?

Very dissapointing that Jaguar were saying how everything had to be perfect and exact copy of the original..then made a brass windscreen surround..when they should be aluminium.....this one is hand made by Classic Jaguar replicas...the surround is aluminium...made be one man from one piece of 2mm sheet....one week to make...why didnt they do this

Sadly I cannot see it. Channel 4 blocks „service not available in your area“.

VPN did not help neither setting region to UK etc.

So, I have to wait until it comes up on dailymotion or youtube...

Carsten

I for one enjoyed the programme. Mark Evans was always slightly nuts beforehand (cf. a Car is Reborn, not that I mind!) but seemed a lot calmer on this one. I guess television moves on.

The whole thing seemed (slightly) less pretentious than the LWE programme, where they were fussing over minor paintwork imperfections and small creases in the leather. I liked the attention to detail, they didn’t seem quite as obsessive at least. I suspect they were still being overly fussy!

I particularly enjoyed the focus on the machine shop and recreating the XK engine. I don’t believe they went into that much detail on the LWE episode, and that was a welcome addition this time.

Also great to see Norman Dewis still going strong!

mgcjag wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:44 pm

Very dissapointing that Jaguar were saying how everything had to be perfect and exact copy of the original..then made a brass windscreen surround..when they should be aluminium.....this one is hand made by Classic Jaguar replicas...the surround is aluminium...made be one man from one piece of 2mm sheet....one week to make...why didnt they do this

Not saying they were right or wrong to do it this way, but I think their point was that doing it in brass provided a superior starting point/base for the chrome finish that would follow.

Similarly they introduced a non-original zipped rear screen into the hood to address the fact that the filler cap (and vent) otherwise sits inside the cabin when the hood's up, and of course they made the point that the original 'bag' tank had to be replaced with something more acceptable to modern safety standards.

I guess there's inevitably a bit of compromise whenever they do these 'evocations'. It's a matter of trying to be as faithful as possible to the original whilst at the same time addressing some of the shortcomings in the original that may not have been immediately apparent when the car was first made (e.g. the fuel venting issue).

I have a copy for those who want to see it. PM me.

Many thanks David !

I‘ve now seen it. I do not really miss Ben Niblett‘s soundtrack, but I think they should have put Norman behind the wheel !

Carsten

I saw a couple in build at Ryton back in September....they are things of beauty....sadly I suspect they will all vanish and be used as investment vehicles rather than actually be driven....not that they can legally be driven on UK roads it seems....

should have put Norman behind the wheel !


Was that the guy that was either 100 years old or very very near it ?

said he "pulled 192 mph" in 1954 [ or very very near it ?]

I am not sure if it was SS or D type ?

BUT

I pulled 192 mph !!! twice he said it and with immense pride.
Blimey Ol Riley, I take my hat off to him :-)

It was in the D-Type. What is surprising about 192 mph? Other than no seat belts, no electronics and a soft leather helmet, obviously. Different times when hero's were cast from iron and after all that Norman is still with us.

Robsan wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 28, 2019 12:36 pm

Weren't they road cars built from left over D Type shells?

Yes they were. 25 D Types were sidelined for the SS but only 16 made it, the rest perished in the devastating factory fire. If I have understood the programme correctly ?

Yes, but my point is that they never dominated Le Mans because they were road cars.

then made a brass windscreen surround..when they should be aluminium

Yes I agree, funny they state they will "get a better finish on the brass" when plating, yet they were happy to apply chrome plating to the aluminium bumpers.