What might appear an impossible dream – there was only ever one XJ13 in 1966 – has been brought to life this week with illustrious race team Ecurie Ecosse revealing it is lending its Le Mans-winning name to a venture to create an XJ13-style machine for the masses. Well, 25 people anyway.
The newly-built re-imagined classic is called the Ecurie Ecosse LM69 and is “inspired by” what the XJ13 might have turned into, rather than being an exact replica. The company behind it is newly set-up Ecurie Cars Ltd which promises that each of the 25 models to be made will be hand-built in the West Midlands by the best British craftspeople. Price? £800,000 to a million.
It’s a homage rather than a continuation model then, and as such one of several XJ13 replicas that have been tried in the past. Having said that, few newly-built recreations of Jaguar’s stillborn racer promise this level of accuracy. It has a bespoke V12 behind the seats, eschews modern fripperies like anti-lock brakes and stability control, and has been built to meet FIA homologation requirements as they existed in 1969.