Jaguar XJ13.

[jaeger88]

This car, is, in my humble, personal & honest opinion, among the most beautiful car's I have ever seen.

Its the only one ever built by Jaguar, though there are some replicas built now.

Here's some history.

Jaguar XJ13

The  Jaguar XJ13 was a prototype racing car developed by Jaguar to challenge  at Le Mans in the mid-1960s. It never raced, and only one was ever  produced.
Jaguar had considered the manufacture of a V12 engine as  far back as 1955, initially for racing purposes, and then developing a  road going version, unlike the XK which was designed as a production  engine and later pressed into service for racing. The engine design was  essentially two XK 6-cylinder engines on a common crankshaft with an  aluminium cylinder block, although there were differences in the inlet  porting, valve angles and combustion chamber shape. The first engine ran  in July of 1964.
The idea of a mid-engine prototype was first  mooted in 1960, but it was not until 1965 that construction began, with  the first car running by March 1966. The aluminium body was designed by  Malcolm Sayer, the aerodynamicist responsible for the Jaguar C-Type, D-Type, E-Type and XJ-S, who used his Bristol Aeroplane Company background to build it using techniques borrowed from the aircraft industry.
The  Jaguar XJ13 had mid-engine format with the 5.0 liter V12 engine mounted  behind the driver, used as a stressed chassis member together with the  five-speed manual ZF Trans-axle driving the rear wheels.
The front  suspension wishbones were similar to that of the E-Type, however where  the E-Type used longitudinal torsion bars, the Jaguar XJ13 had more  conventional coil spring/damper units. At the rear there again remained  similarities with the E-Type - the use of driveshafts as upper  transverse links - however the rest was quite different, with two long  radius arms per side angling back from the central body tub together  with lower links.
The development of the Jaguar XJ13, although  treated seriously by the designers, was never a priority for company  management (despite assistant MD Lofty England's Le Mans success in the  1950s), and became less so following the 1966 merger with BMC. By that  time Ford had developed the 7.0 liter GT40,  and so the Jaguar XJ13 was considered obsolete by the time the  prototype was complete. The prototype was tested at MIRA and at  Silverstone, which confirmed that it would have required considerable  development to make it competitive. The prototype was put into storage  and no further examples were made.

[sakorick]

I wonder what it would cost to have the dash, steering column and seat switched over to the proper side?

[jaeger88]

Left hand drive !.  Good grief , you'll be wanting to swap out that lovely V12 for lumpy old V8 next !.




Is that better ?.

[sakorick]

Now it looks great! That is quite a rare beauty. Funny that a clunky Ford V8 made the car obsolete. Here is one I looked at in Springfield......asking price was $140,000. low miles!!

[gitano]

That is a beautiful machine! I find the engine the most interesting part, but it's certainly easy on the eyes! I have never personally laid eyes on one 'in the flesh'. It actually reminds me of a bullet if I squint my eyes.

Awfully 'Spartan' interior though!

Paul

[jaeger88]

Imagine balancing all those carbs with probably nothing more than a Stethoscope !.

I owned a 1969 Lotus Elan + 2 SE, many moons ago, that had a pair of two barrel Weber DCOE 40's, & they were bad enough to set up.

[sakorick]

A Friend in the USAF had an XKE roadster and it seemed he was always fiddling with the carbs.

[j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)]

More likely a set of vacuum gauges..

[jaeger88]

That's probably what they used, though I have heard of tuning guru's that could listen to the "hiss" of each carb with a stethoscope, & adjusted them till they all sounded the same. Must have been like tuning a piano by ear.

I borrowed a Weber Carb Syncrometer, which you pushed into the air trumpet of each carb, & attempted to set the airflow through each one till they were all the same.

But it was a real pain to keep swapping it between the 4 carbs. Would have been nice to have 4 of them, one for each carb !.

[gitano]

A friend had an MGB. I swear I pushed that car farther than I got driven in it! I don't recall how many carburetors it had, but we were always fiddling with them because they were ALWAYS out of tune. That car and Triumph motorcycles are what completely turned me off of ALL British-designed motor vehicles except Bentleys and Rolls Royces. I would love to own an old Bentley or Rolls. I do like the looks of most of the Jaguars though. (Had a friend with an XKE, too. Always out of tune. ALWAYS!)

Paul