Foose Design’s Build of a 1974 Jaguar E-Type Is Amazing, but…
Classic E-Type has a secret under its bonnet that every purist will despise.
Ah, comments on the Internet. They are holy grail for people who want to express themselves ruthlessly and have no consequences for their actions. Everybody has an opinion about everything and usually, it’s conveniently never mentioned because humans are naturally scared of confrontation. For some reason, once a keyboard is introduced, all that goes at out the window. The subject of today’s bashing? A 1974 Jaguar E-Type Roadster project by Foose Design.
Foose Design is known for taking classic cars and elevating them to the next level with custom bodywork, imaginative design, and concours-level restoration. Thanks to their YouTube channel, we are able to learn more about one of their current projects that they have been working on for a little over a year. It is a Series 3 1974 Jaguar E-Type convertible, which is being converted into a custom roadster. So far they have extended the body and installed just about every single new piece of exterior panel you can think of down to the wheel wells and glass.
A recurring theme with Foose Design is that the majority of the work at the end of the day will be bespoke. Custom hood with a CNC aluminum grill, vents and louvers. Completely hand-crafted quarter panels, doors, you name it. These guys are true artisans when it comes to aluminum and metal work. Although the body is now completely constructed out of aluminum, the body of the car still retains some factory parts. The front and rear suspension geometry have gone unchanged. However, the front and rear body have been narrowed several inches.
The car will be running a 19″ inch front wheel with a 20″ rear wheel stagger setup with a 335 section-width tire in the back. You might be wondering, why the hell would they need that much tire for car that only made less than 300 HP a half a century ago? Well, here is the reason that everybody hates this bespoke beauty: they ditched the 5.3L Jaguar V12 for a GM LS-based engine.
Now, we aren’t exactly sure as to why they did this, but it must have been for a good reason. We for one, don’t mind, mainly because if we really cared we wouldn’t complain about it on the internet and instead put our money where our mouth is. If you are a Jag purist, you’re definitely going to hate it, but this car is far from a original E-type to begin with. Love it or hate it, the work going into this project is huge and that speaks volumes in itself. We are curious to see where this goes and we will be staying up to date with it as it develops.
