1966 Jaguar E-type ‘Series I’: Backstories of Badass Cars

A Jaguar E-type named ‘Trudy’ steals the heart of an urban cowboy in Texas, who turns her into an award-winning ride.

I recently shot a video about this 1966 Jaguar E-type ‘Series I.’ It was a true treat to talk about this amazing Jag in the video. It’s easy for me to rattle on about the facts, history, and glory that followed the E-type after its release. However, this particular E-type–whose name is “Trudy,” by the way, and yes, we do all refer to her as that–goes beyond the E-type splendor for me.

This story is about the people and stories that this car shares with me personally, that brings a smile to my face. You see, this car was once owned and restored by one of the most colorful characters of my childhood.

Rebel with a Jag: A Texas Tale of Fights, Fast Cars and Fate

His name was Jeremy Harding. He had a cockney accent that effectively helped shoot his wit across the room faster than the E-type was in its first years of production. How did a skinny, mechanically inclined Brit travel all way from the suburbs of London to the beach town of Corpus Christi, Texas? His journey down to the Lone Star State is a unique one and also involves a tire iron to the mouth.

Harding, likely using his wit and good looks, managed to get hired working on wealthy yachts traveling international seas. I bet he soaked that up. However, that job would soon come to an end abruptly. I don’t know the specifics, but he found himself beaten up, without his wallet, without that cushy yacht gig and stuck in Houston, Texas. After all, his greatest asset and risk was his tongue, which likely put him in that stranded position.

His path would next lead him to a job in South Texas, and from there he would find himself a job at our rowdy family mechanic shop, Shook Enterprises. And it was at Shook Enterprises where a little old lady would offer up an E-type ‘Series I’ that Harding scooped up, becoming a proud owner of his childhood dream car.

We’ve had a handful of unique folks employed at our shop. However, Harding took the cake for being the most colorful, supplying us with an abundance of wild stories that always seemed to follow him. One of the worst is the tale behind his dentures. He verbally flayed the wrong person in a country bar. Later, in the parking lot, he lost all his teeth (and almost his life) to a tire iron. I don’t particularly like that story.

Harding spared no expense in the restoration of Trudy. This E-type was his pride and joy. A childhood British sports car dream realized in, of all places, south Texas. 

He was a man that couldn’t skip a dare, and he repeatedly bragged about the many exploits of streaking in his past. Harding was dared to run in his briefs across the busy downtown streets of Corpus Christi. When dared, a simple “no” just couldn’t escape his lips. In his tiny briefs, a vibrant shade of blue, Jeremy darted his skinny self out of the shop, through traffic and across the road. Of course, when he returned, the garage door had been lowered and locked. With every mechanic at the windows, eyes full of tears and throats full of laughter.

Harding spared no expense in the restoration of Trudy. This E-type was his pride and joy. A childhood British sports car dream realized, in of all places, south Texas. The total restoration of the Jaguar would include complete engine overhaul, all mechanicals, rear suspension, and front sub-frame. He would treasure Trudy from the year of purchase in 1994 till his passing in 2008. My father purchased Trudy and we’ve kept her happy and well cared for in the Corpus Christi Old Car Museum.

To me, it’s not just a spectacular car, though it is obviously quite spectacular. To me, it is the people behind it and the path of memories that it takes me on that makes this Jaguar exceptional.

‘Trudy’: from Museum Showpiece to Auction Centerpiece

Next month, Trudy will be heading to the auction block, where the storied 1966 Jaguar E-type ‘Series I’ will be part of the Corpus Christi Old Car Museum Auction, happening Oct. 4 and 5, when it will be sold with over 200 additional rare and unique cars by World Wide Auctioneers. To see more of this and other amazing cars and their fascinating backstories, check out my website The Bad Blonde CARS + TRAVEL, as well as my  YouTube videos and Instagram.

Photos: World Wide Auctioneers

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Caitlin Shook

Caitlin Shook was raised around her family’s colorful imports and antique mechanic shop, and with a car museum as a classroom. Yes, really, she was homeschooled out of a car museum. Caitlin is most at home wandering alone in a car museum or popping a beer behind the desk of her father’s mechanic shop, Shook Enterprises.

With a constant flow of beloved antique and classic sports cars running through the family business, it’s no wonder Caitlin developed an appreciation and passion for automobiles.

In efforts to keep Caitlin out of trouble  during her teenage years, her father found a 1976 Porsche 912e to absorb her time. She, with the expert supervision of Steve Shook and Sidney Arnold, began a total restoration: engine overhaul, all mechanicals, “every damn thing,” says Caitlin proudly.

After that, she learned the mind-bending qualities of auto bodywork. Taking the 912e down to metal while branding herself with a heat gun multiple times.

Now she spends her time at the family shop, and creating informal YouTube videos on beloved cars to post her blog: The Bad Blonde CARS + TRAVEL.

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