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The SHELBY AMERICAN
244 Fall 2015
Notes from the SAAC Mailroom:
We saw an interesting article
in the June 11, 2015 issue of the
Wall Street Journal
written by Dan
Neil about the reincarnation of the
legendary Lightweight Jaguar
XKE. Jaguar only built 12 of these
cars in 1963 (the final one was ac-
tually completed in 1964). The last
one to be run through an auction
brought $7.5 million. The six repro-
duction cars referred to in Neil’s ar-
ticle will carry
“leftover vehicle ID
numbers from the incomplete build
of 18 ‘Special GT-E Type’ competi-
tion cars in 1964
.” Stop us if any of
this sounds familiar.
The car is described in the ar-
ticle as being, “
brand new...but con-
sidering that it was assembled in
Browns Lane, in Coventry, the E-
Type’s ancestral home, by a team of
artisans, some the sons of fathers
who built the original E-Types; and
considering that it was constructed
with virtually identical materials
from many of the original suppliers
(Connolly leather, Lucas lights,
Smith gauges, Dunlop tires)...
“
Given all that
[the use of left-
over serial numbers to complete six
more lightweight Jaguar Es],
the
car’s ontological status seems mys-
terious,”
wrote Neil.
“Is it a copy, a
reproduction, a post-production, a
counterfeit, a reincarnated arti-
fact? The Jaguar Heritage depart-
ment, they who built the car, calls
it a ‘continuation’ model, as if all
those blokes on the line had been
taking a tea break for 60 years. The
Federation Internationale de l’Au-
tomobile (FIA), the world body gov-
erning motorsports, will regard the
six cars as ‘period competition ve-
hicles’ fully qualified for historic
racing, which seems a delightful bit
of self-deception
.”
In the Spring 2015 issue we reported
on a graffiti vandal who was pho-
tographed defiling Darek Stennes’
5S242 during the Amelia Island car
show weekend. It appeared to be the
act of a lone desperado but after that
picture was published we received ad-
ditional photos taken at the Amelia Is-
land event. It is now apparent that a
gang of graffiti hoodlums was at work,
taking turns trying to make Stennes’
GT350 look like a New York City sub-
way car. When you read about graffiti
vandals they are usually young peo-
ple, typically from ghettos in larger
cities. But judging by these photos,
this is a mob of geriatric thugs with
gray hair and considering the way
they are grasping their marking pens,
could have advanced arthritis. It
should be relatively easy to apprehend
these delinquents because they were
thought to have made their escape in
slow-moving golf carts. Local police
have dubbed them “The Geriatric
Graffiti Gang.” We’ll keep you posted.
GRAFFITI GANG CAUGHT ON CAMERA !