(EXPANDED FROM 7/1/2021)
The Jaguar XK-E was a remarkable car for a variety of reasons, but I would like to point out two qualities that have always been particularly appealing to me.
For starters, the Jaguar was one of very few cars to ever challenge the design convention of relatively angular front and rear overhangs. Both the XK-E’s front and rear tapered into dramatically pointed tips.
This design approach was particularly radical for the early-60s, when automakers were only beginning to explore alternatives to a flat chassis with the bumpers attached at each end.
As the 1960s progressed, sportier designs moved the bumpers higher up on the body and filled in the area below with sheetmetal that angled at least somewhat inward. However, the XK-E arguably took this idea farthest — particularly in the rear, where the taper upward began at the rear wheel. This undoubtedly reduced cargo capacity but was crucial to giving the XK-E a lithe shape that has rarely been repeated.
Even when Jaguar embraced retro styling with the 1996-2006 XK. However, the 2+2 coupe only managed to vaguely evoke the original XK-E. The design by Geoff Lawson had the requisite gentle curvature, but the front and rear were much less tapered (Wikipedia, 2023).
XK-E had animalistic face that has yet to be surpassed
The other design feature I would like to call out is the animalistic curvature of the XK-E’s headlight covers.
A key ingredient is the XK-E’s subtle integration of horizontal and vertical curves. Instead of the typical tendency to interject more angular surfaces (think Datsun 240Z), the Jaguar comes closer than any other production car I can think of to emulating the complex but subtle curves of an animal’s face.
Of course, the shape of the car’s fascia was strikingly beautiful. However, it also was a good 30 years ahead of the rest of the auto industry in aerodynamics. For example, the 1996-99 Ford Taurus’s fascia had a highly rounded shape that paid homage to the XK-E.
Even Jaguar has stepped away from organic styling
Advancements in lighting technology have allowed automakers to explore more organic headlight shapes. By the same token, electric power has opened up new design options for fascias because you don’t have to accommodate a bulky radiator and a traditionally sized engine. A case in point is the electric-powered Jaguar I-Pace.
Of course, the I-Pace doesn’t make a perfect comparison with the XK-E because it is a sport-utility vehicle, where an emphasis is placed on space efficiency rather than swoopy styling. Even so, the I-Pace illustrates the contemporary auto industry’s penchant for relatively angular shapes.
One reason Jaguar’s cachet has faded in recent decades is arguably because its vehicles no longer look very different from anyone else’s. This is unfortunate in light of the brand’s rich design legacy, particularly as embodied by the XK-E.
I am not implying that Jaguar should cling to “retro” styling. Instead, I’m suggesting that the brand’s designers might experiment with animalistic forms that reach beyond what the rest of the auto industry has tried.
NOTE:
This story was first posted on Aug. 23, 2012 and expanded on Aug. 14, 2020; July 1, 2021; and July 3 2023. At the time of last posting, the advertisements originally pulled from the Automotive History Preservation Society’s previous website were not available on its new one.
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Gunnell, John; 2007. Standard Catalog of Jaguar, 1946-2005. KP Books, Iola, WI.
- Wikipedia; 2021. “Jaguar I-Pace.” Page last edited June 11.
- ——; 2023. “Jaguar XK.” Page last edited June 13.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- autohistorypreservationsociety.org: Jaguar XK-E (1962, 1964)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Ford Taurus (1998)
I had not thought about the “dramatically pointed tips” of the Jaguar. Another iconic sports car with a similar profile is the Alfa Romeo spider from the late sixties – the “disco volante,” (flying saucer) or in Italian, the “Osso di Seppia” because it looked like a dried cuttlefish. Both are beautiful cars.
Good point. I had to look that one up. I wonder if the Alfa inspired the Jaguar?
Nice piece on the XK-E’s styling, Steve. Photos have never quite done the car justice. Up close and in the metal, you understand the scale, how the XK-E is so lean, lithe and tiny; it truly is a cat about to pounce.
The long nose of the XK-e reminds me of this scene from the French movie “Le Petit Baigneur” starring Louis de Funes where he stretched litteraly the Jaguar front end.
OMGosh, Stephane… I just read the plot of the movie on IMDb and I have a feeling the movie must be seen to be believed, lol.
As “Road & Track”‘s Henry Manney III wrote, the XK-E was “the greatest crumpet catcher ever designed”. In my opinion, the 1961 press photographs with the wide whitewall tires looked odd. Later XK-Es with all black tires looked right to me. When I was at my first radio job as a producer at WIBC-AM in Indianapolis, one of the great air personalities of all-time, Orly Knutson (Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismark, and the Twin Cities) owned a green 1972 XK-E Series II coupe. While on-the-air, Orly would have me run errands on Saturdays in his Jag. Wow, what a car ! Even though Indianapolis was home to the Indianapolis 500, XK-E Jaguars were rare and head-turners. I drove the car under 30-mph, as I was intimidated by the car, even though I knew how to drive a stick. Orly later got an unbelievable offer and took a job in his native state in Bismark. But somehow the Jaguar and North Dakota winters did not mix. A couple of years later, Orly and his dad transplanted a Chevrolet 307 V-8 in place of the oil-leaking Jaguar six. Orly kept it for several years and had it when he returned to WIBC in 1979. He sold the XK-E and bought a Jaguar 3.8-litre sedan, which over the years has been fully restored, a beautiful saloon.
In reading about Jaguars in the 1950s and 1960s, I always thought that the XK-E styling was an evolution of the C-type, the D-type and the limited-run XK-SS customer cars. Granted, none of these cars sported bumpers, with the XK-SS in rare cases equipped with very delicate bumpers. Still, the 3.8-litre Series I XK-E was as Enzo Ferrari judged at the time, “the most beautiful car in the world”.
Can this American car be compared with an E?
https://images.app.goo.gl/6LMcZnseucm2xHxk8
https://images.app.goo.gl/zfwMnduuJzMjtxycA
https://theavanti.com/60ssportscars.html