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An E-Type in the garden: rotting '63 Jaguar heads for auction

There's something about formerly gorgeous cars in dilapidated states from which the eye cannot turn away. The devastatingly cruel fate of this Jaguar E-Type is an illustration. Next week, it likely begins a new life. Still voluptuous after decades rotting in a garden, this 1963 Series 1 fixed head coupe will be offered for sale at the Coys auction Tuesday in London. The car has 44,870 miles on the odometer and has passed through several owners, including one with a tangential connection to the Beatles and another man who used the Jag to pull his MG to Brands Hatch. He would race them both, according to Coys' listing, wringing the most out of the E-Type's 265-horsepower inline six. Ivor Arbiter was owner No. 1. His link to history is that he designed the Beatles drop-T logo in the early '60s and was reportedly paid five British pounds for it. He bought the E-Type new in 1963, used it, and then sold it to in 1965. The E-Type passed through a couple of owners until motorsports enthusiast Frank Riches bought it in '67. He tracked the Jag at some of Britain's iconic circuits and drove it until he fried the clutch. Coys cites a story from Riches' brother recounting when the E-Type hit 150 miles per hour on a public road, its listed top speed. It was in storage until the 1980s, and then Riches relocated it to his garden, where it has sat for years. Considering its long dormancy, the Jag appears to be in reasonable shape. It's never been restored, obviously, and Riches still has many of the original parts he replaced, including the center console and radiator bar. Coys notes that the seats have a "lovely patina" and are worth saving, too. The buyer also gets a brown logbook, the sales invoice to Riches, two service books (it is a '63 Jag) and a spare parts catalogue. A Coys auctioneer told ITV.com that the car could net about $140,000. Related Video: Jaguar Auctions Coupe Luxury Performance jaguar e-type

Jaguar opens new engine plant in the UK

The heads of Jaguar Land Rover are having a busy couple of weeks opening factories. Just days after inaugurating the company's first overseas plant in China, the automaker's new Engine Manufacturing Center in the UK is being inaugurated, as well. The plant near Wolverhampton, England, marks the first time in decades that JLR is building its own powerplants in-house. Further signaling the importance of this launch for the business, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were on hand and even tweeted about it.
The factory's first major project is to build JLR's latest Ingenium four-cylinders, starting with the 2.0-liter diesel version. "Our new Engine Manufacturing Centre is an important step in advancing the competitiveness and capability of the UK automotive sector. The production of in-house engines will support the expansion of the UK supply chain providing critical mass for inward investment," said Trevor Leeks, plant operations director in the automaker's announcement.
Opening the doors to the Engine Manufacturing Center has been years in the making for JLR. The plant was first announced in September 2011 and broke ground in June 2012. Building it cost the company 500 million pounds ($800 million) and created 1,400 new jobs. Of course, being a state-of-the-art factory, considerations were made to make the place as energy efficient as possible. That meant installing the UK's largest solar array with 21,000 panels to produce about 30 percent of the site's electricity needs.

Bloodhound SSC makes its speed-ready debut in London

Bloodhound SSC, the 1,000-mph land speed record contender, broke cover this week in Canary Wharf, London, in the heart of the Docklands financial district. "This is the best of British engineering meets the best of British banking," quipped Philip Dunne, MP, minister of state for defense procurement, which has provided backing for the team in terms of Army and Royal Air Force personnel and equipment. The team announced that Bloodhound will do its first test runs in Newquay, Cornwall, next spring before traveling to Hakskeen Pan in northwest South Africa in the fall. There, on October 15, 2016, it will make its first attempt on the land speed record, which currently stands at 763.035 miles per hour. That speed was set by Thrust SSC in the Black Rock desert on October 15, 1997 by Bloodhound's driver, Andy Green. Nineteen years later to the day, Green will be shooting for a speed over 800 mph. Over 8,000 people will come to Canary Wharf to see this extraordinary jet- and rocket-powered car over the next couple of days. This is the first-ever viewing of the machine in assembled form. The right-hand side is fully dressed in desert spec, complete with forged aluminum wheels and aerodynamics. The left-hand side is in 'naked' Newquay test spec, with panels removed for easy access and the whole thing riding on rubber tires that can run on tarmac. First impressions are of a big yet muscular car simply crammed with engines, jets, and rockets. The most recognizable thing, apart from the seven fire extinguishers, is the Jaguar AJ133 5.0-liter V8, lifted from an F-Type, which will run the fuel pumps that deliver over 211 gallons of high-test peroxide over the rocket motor's 20-second burn time. The EJ200 Typhoon military jet engine occupies the top floor and provides nine tons of thrust, and underneath is the single Nammo rocket motor providing an additional four tons. "When we go for 1,000 mph, we'll need another two rocket motors," says Mark Chapman, Bloodhound's chief engineer. "That total additional eight tons of thrust is what we'll need to get from 800 to 1,000 mph." He explains that the rear of the car will have to be redesigned to accommodate the two additional rocket motors, and the suspension might have to be adapted with longitudinal rear spring units like the fronts. There are still unknowns in the project, such as the area of vacuum that will follow the car several meters behind.