I saw it. Apart. In person. Last Month…
I can still remember the first time I ever saw a photo of “Cut-7” – it was in a Jaguar magazine in about 1990 or 91, and I just thought it was SO cool! That photo was the reason I pulled my front bumpers off and smoothed out the seams on my bonnet in 1992 (along with the fact that I wrecked it – bad…)
EC1001 is “The Low Drag Coupe” – it was built by Jaguar early on – probably 1962 I guess. There are whole books written about it and the other lightweights, and I will confess to not know every little detail of when it was built, etc., but It was basically the precursor to the aluminum “lightweight” E-Type racers. This early example was built around a steel shell. An aluminum bonnet and doors were fitted, and then the roof was completely redesigned. The windshield was pushed forward at the bottom, and back at the top. The windshield pillars were laid back – AND IN – giving a reduced frontal area. And the roof and tail were formed of aluminum and scuplted into a slick little fastback shape.
Aside from 9600HP, it is probably the most famous E-Type – and as a result, has often been replicated – and that’s where I come in. About 18 months ago, I was approached by a gentleman in Australia about providing an internal E-Type shell with no external skin for the basis of an EC1001 replica. he is working with an experienced shop in New Zealand that will take the shell from there and skin it in aluminum to replicate the EC1001 shape. I had mentioned this to a few other people in the E-Type world, and eventually, I found myself face to face with the real thing in order to get a good look firsthand how the original was built – what a RUSH!
Unfortunately, I did not see the car at it’s best – on a showroom floor, or on the racetrack. I saw the car in “mid-freshening-up” – stripped down and being prepped for fresh paint. As a result, I am not going to show the photos I took, other than a couple choice shots, but you can find TONS of photos on the Internet and I will put some of those up to show you what I’m talking about…
But suffice to say that I was pretty excited about seeing the car in person! Stay tuned for our work on working with customers and fellow metalworkers on the other side of the world to re-create this great E-Type!
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- Here it is – EC1001, the original “Low Drag Coupe” at a Vintage meeting sometime in the past…
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- This is a shot of the “fastback” tail treatment.
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- Here is a better shot of the reduced cockpit – not how the windows slant inward. Also note the little hook-shaped boot lid latch…
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- …here it is – IN MY HAND! This was SO COOL for me!
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- EC1001 – Chuck was here…
