Revell 1/24 Jaguar E Type Coupe

[Stefee]

Hi All,

Just completed my build of this kit in 99 hours. It is a facsimile of my best friends car in RSA which is a 1964 Jaguar E Type Coupe 3.8 Series 1(+1/2) a picture of which is the first one in the attached images.
He bought the car in 1994 from a SAA pilot with 32k miles on the clock and 1 spot of rust the size of a 5p (advantage of living in Johannesburg!). I stripped the paint off and did a complete respray, fettled the engine and tidied up the Burgundy leather and Axminster interior which would eventually be replaced. The car is amongst the last 6 RHD 3.8 coupes built hence the Series 1.5 designation as it has the Series 2 black central upper dash and red leather centre console which I did not create. The vehicle was very fast, handled reasonably well and had just about adequate brakes. Above 100 MPH the airflow got under the bulbous front wings and made steering input vague and the view over that gorgeous nose more sky than road. We once got it to an indicated 159 MPH on a deserted Free State road but it was scary. Regularly used to blow away BMW M3, Chev Can am V8, Basil Green V8 Capri and all assorted Japanese hot hatches at the traffic light Grand Prix.

The kit itself is well moulded and very detailed. the only problems encountered were the bonnet hinges ( cut them off in the end ) and, strangely for Revell IME, some of the thin interior chrome des were very brittle.

Enjoy the photos and any comments well received.

ATB Stefan

 

[Airborne01]

That car is sex on a stick!
Steve

 

[Stefee]

As Enzo Ferrari said " the most beautiful car in the world". Praise indeed.

 

[Scratchbuilder]

Such a shame the people across the big pond have taken to putting big V8's into these classics and not realising that the hood/bonnet can actually release and rise up blocking the view.
On one of my leave times from the army I got a part time job working for the British School of Motoring High Performance Course down in Kensington, London. And we had a few of these from the 2 seat coupe/drophead (convertable) to the 1+1/2 that you worked on. The rich folks came along and went through the course before buying their own. My boss/foreman/garage manager used to take these customers out for their first experience, and he used to work with David Brown (later Aston Martin), and when Jaguar brought out their Mk10, Brown with my boss were actually developing their own version excepr theirs had a steel tube frame instead of pressed panels... Anyway out these people went down to the Brands Hatch circuit with the boss driving, all smart and latest trendy clothes on - about two hours later they would be back all pale and grey, tie undone and an airline sick bag in their hand....
A pity that Ferrari went plastic in his cars, I think it was £100 per one square inch of plastic.

 

[Stefee]

In South Africa the V8 versions of Vauxhall Vivas (Can Am) and the Capri Perana were factory built/approved conversions. Ford even put a V8 in a Sierra 4 door and called it an XR8.
BMW SA regularly built go faster versions of their cars, a 333i (E30 body with 3.3 straight 6) and a real Q car called the 745i (E28?) which had a turbo charged 3.3 six.
I have personally put 7.2 Chrysler V8 (Jensen Interceptor) in a Sierra, BMW 5 series and best of all in a 1958 Ford Anglia 100e aka Grumpy. All of these had better brakes and suspension and were properly sorted.
The daftest thing I did was put a 2.0 Porsche engine,box,suspension and brakes in a 1957 VW Beetle convertible!

 

[Scratchbuilder]

Conversions/customising.
My last custom was a V6 ford dropped into a Morris Minor van, Jaguar rear suspension, Morris Marina front suspension, Wolfrace ali wheels, front seats from a Humber Sceptre and the back was all velvet button into deep sponge, and the sunroof was a cut down vynil one. New dash board so away went the centre speedo and was replace with temp, oil pressure and volt metre guages. The colour was black primer (3 coats) and then a custom mix of Black Cherry pearl. And the exhaust were two side exhausts.

Crazyist custom was putting a Rover 3.5 V8 into a Lotus 7. We had to use the auto box as the manual gear change lever would have been in the boot. As the auto change was on a cable and the auto box was actually shorter, we mounted it on the centre of the dashboard. We had to re-inforce the front frame with extra 1x1inch square tube and beef up the front suspension. The prop shaft overall measured 14 inches in length.

Cut down a Ford Anglia with the sloping rear window in to a pick up, Ford V8, side pipes from scaffold tubes and a blower, damn thing was frightening, had to put four paving slabs and three bags of cement in the rear....

 

[Waspie]

Took me a moment to realise the second image was a model!!!! Superb work. THEN, when I came across the engine images!!! Just amazing detail. Just awesome Stefan.

 

[Stefee]

Scratch builder you are a man after my own heart, what is was like to be young, daft and fearless. Forgot to say all my V8 transplants had nitrous oxide injection too. Also did a commission build of 5 Cobra replicas using XJ6 front and rear suspension and, sacrilege, 351 Chevvy motors.

Waspie, thank you for the kind comments and I think I achieved my objective by fooling you for a moment. Alltwen engine detail except the HT leads was supplied in the kit.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looks great to me. Nice job Stefan.

 

[Andy T]

Another amazing model Stefan.

I find it interesting that you always log the build hours. Any particular reason for that?

 

[Scratchbuilder]

Another amazing model Stefan.

I find it interesting that you always log the build hours. Any particular reason for that?

He gets paid in Cheddars, 1 per hour....

 

[Scratchbuilder]

Scratch builder you are a man after my own heart, what is was like to be young, daft and fearless. Forgot to say all my V8 transplants had nitrous oxide injection too. Also did a commission build of 5 Cobra replicas using XJ6 front and rear suspension and, sacrilege, 351 Chevvy motors.

Waspie, thank you for the kind comments and I think I achieved my objective by fooling you for a moment. Alltwen engine detail except the HT leads was supplied in the kit.

Yes - that was when I was young and stupid in the early 80's, CB was king, and BF Goodrich tyres ruled....

 

[Stefee]

Andy T,
I log the hours so that SWMBO cannot accuse me of neglecting my chores! Seriously though I suppose it stems back to when I had my bodyshop and every hour was logged at my insistence to try and make us efficient and profitable, now it's just a quirk.

 

[Waspie]

Andy T,
I log the hours so that SWMBO cannot accuse me of neglecting my chores! Seriously though I suppose it stems back to when I had my bodyshop and every hour was logged at my insistence to try and make us efficient and profitable, now it's just a quirk.

It'a amazing how much work habits flow into our lives. It was pointed out to me by a couple of people how when I get in the car and attach the seat belt I give it a sharp tug to see if the inertia lock kicks in!!! (Habit from flying days). I also return all the switches to their null or neutral position just before I get out!! I was unaware I did these until a friend and then SWMBO pointed it out.

 

[Airborne01]

Unfortunately I still check front, rear and underbody areas before opening the doors of my car; Kate says it's so automatic she would have concerns if I didn't!
Steve

 

[Mark1]

Very nice,my boss has a mk2 in this colour with tan interior, ive done a load of bodywork on it and its just gone back on the road after being completely rebuilt, it has been mostly stripped and stored in boxes for the last 30 years .