EARLY 1963 JAGUAR XKE E-TYPE DHC ROADSTER. VIN # J63 878635This E-type has spent its life in California. I have owned it for over a decade. For most of that time it has been on the lift at a garage as shown in the photo! I simply have too many projects. If this sells okay. If it doesn't sell that's okay and I'll finally get around to finishing it. There are many new parts. including new Dayton wire wheels (tubeless 15" x 6") with tires and new wheel spinners. New cranberry red canvas top. New aluminum radiator. New Wilwood four piston aluminum caliper brakes with aluminum hats. Aluminum differential cover. Etc. You can see many of the new parts in the photos. including the new cranberry red convertible top. I purchased an additional set of front and rear bumpers and still retain the original bumpers (which I'd re-chrome and use if I keep the car). My plan was/is to finish the car in this silver blue with a cranberry red top and matching cranberry red interior. I've owned several series one E-types and would go to all the local shows. They are very nice cars but 75. 00 were produced and pretty much at every event there was yet another E-type. or several. Where Ferrari made hundreds Jaguar mass produced tens of thousands. This time around I wanted something special. The plan was /is to make this car look like a series one on the outside and inside. albeit with a lot more visual pop thanks to the stunning yet classic silver-blue exterior / red leather interior. But under the skin there would be an improvement unlike anything anyone else has done (as far as I know). I was impressed by an early series Corvette and bidding on the car at an auction. but it ended up selling for several times what a nicely restored example would have sold for! Under its classic 1950s hood was a modern. reliable. efficient. powerful powerplant. I wanted something like this. I was looking for something different than the version produced by Beecham in New Zealand and I wanted something less pricey be equally rapid. if not more so. than the Eagle E-type (which costs about $1. 00. 00!). So I decided I would make the ultimate E-type. The last straight six designed by Jaguar before Ford took over was the all-aluminum four valve per cylinder XJR motor. According to my information it weighs 349 pounds complete (so says the shipping invoice). more than 200 pounds lighter than the XK boat anchor which weighs in at nearly 600 pounds!(According to In The Jaguar Scrapbook. marque historian Philip Porter published a list of weights of various Coventry powerplants "as installed on testbed. " These were taken minus fan. air cleaner. clutch. and transmission. and without any fluids. but with flywheel. electrical equipment. and exhaust manifolds. The 3. 8 came to 592 pounds! The 4. 2. which had the redesigned block with different bore spacings. scaled 605! And the 5. 3-liter V-12? A mere seven pounds heftier. at 612!) There's a reason people described these Jaguar motors as boat anchors! By comparison a Ferrari V12 weighs over 100 pounds less. Jaguar realized there was a weight problem which they tried to fix by producing the XKE race cars ("lightweights") with all aluminum motors featuring special aluminum engine blocks. Also. while Jaguar back in the sixties rated the XKE motor at 265 hp most report the number is far closer to 220. The significantly lighter XJR motor stock makes over 320 hp and tuned around 400 hp. It is also reliable. uses coil on plug ignition and modern fuel injection. So I purchased a super low mileage XJR motor and had it shipped from England to Los Angeles. I also purchased a Getrag 5 speed transmission as originally fit by Jaguar to the XJ in Europe. A custom aluminum flywheel and performance clutch was prepared and the entire assembly installed in the XKE. Which is pretty much where things stand now. The motor is in the car but the restoration needs completion. Prior to taking the car apart the car was a fine running XKE but it was decades old and in need of renewing. Properly finished the E-type will be stunning to look at but also unique. fast. reliable. fuel efficient and all Jaguar. the classic E with the last true evolution of the straight six Jaguar motor. It's a project but an extremely fun and worthwhile one with a finished product that will command top dollar as it will be distinct from the other 75. 00 E-types.