[Video] How to build a 150 tonne Jaguar E-Type
The 2010 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard celebrated the golden anniversary of the Jaguar E-type, called ‘the most beautiful car in the world’ by none other than Enzo Ferrari when it was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1060.
It regularly still tops lists of the most desirable classic car thanks to its timeless styling by aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer and which took inspiration from the earlier, Le Mans winning, C-Type and D-Type Jaguars. The E-type never recreated its forebears racing glory but it was a huge hit for Jaguar, on sale for 15 years in three different generations and in two-seater, 2+2 and convertible guises. Its engines went from a 3.4-litre straight-six to an enlarged 3.8-litre before the Series III was fitted with Jaguar’s then new 5.3-litre V12.
There was surely never an E-type like the one created as the Central Feature for the 2010 Festival however. Designed, as are all the Central Features, by sculptor Gerry Judah, the 28-metre tall installation was constructed of a series of steel tubes installed by a bridge building firm and weighed a total of 150 tonnes.