Here are the 5 most iconic Jaguar models in history
“A new, exciting era has begun for Jaguar...” This is the beginning of a statement from the company, which was published on the occasion of Miami Art Week in early December. The new era is supposed to produce a "new visual identity", those responsible explain, it is about a "creative philosophy of opulent modernism".
That sounds ambitious, but the big question with such announcements is always: What comes out of it? In this case, it was the type 00 study. The concept vehicle of the future is to show what the Jaguar vehicles of the new era should look like.
The 5 most legendary Jaguar models of all time
It is the complete break with almost everything that has distinguished the brand, which was founded in 1922 and has been making cars since 1931. Because Jaguar has always stood for maximum sportiness, technical sophistication and luxurious elegance.
Jaguar has been the court supplier of the British royal family since 1951, seven Jaguar types won the 24-Hour Race of Le Mans, twice Jaguar triumphed in the World Sports Car Championship. In the meantime, Jaguar even got in Formula 1. GQ once again recalls five legendary cars of the brand, the memory of which will gradually fade in the new era of Jaguar.
#1: Jaguar C-Type
Smooth body swings, the whole car seemingly a powerful movement - the Jaguar C-Type was, so to speak, the racing version of the Jaguar XK 120, and the letter "C" stood for "competition", i.e. racing competitions. With this race car, the team Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead achieved the first victory for Jaguar in the 24-hour race of Le Mans. Under the front hood, a 3.4-liter six-cylinder engine was working, which developed an output of 202 hp and made the open racer up to 232 km/h.
#2: Jaguar D-Type
The successor to the Jaguar C-Type appeared in 1954 – under the flying name D-Type. The two-seater racing car was based on a lattice tube frame, characteristic of the car was a powerful fin on the rear, reminiscent of an aircraft raft.
Also in the D-Type, a 3.4-liter six-cylinder engine provided propulsion. The completely revised engine produced around 250 hp and accelerated the flat, smoothly designed car to almost 300 km/h. With the D-Type, Jaguar triumphed three times in a row in Le Mans (1955, 1956, 1957).
#3: Jaguar Mk II
In English television series or feature films of the 1960s, the Jaguar Mk II (Mark 2) was considered the ideal cast for the automotive main role. The four-door sedan combined sportiness and nobility, and it had a superlative to offer: No other four-door production car was as fast as the Jaguar Mk II at that time. The top version reached up to 200 km/h, then a 3.8-liter six-cylinder engine with 225 hp was under the hood. The car was manufactured until 1969, around 83,000 copies in various configurations were sold.
#4: Jaguar E-Type
The iconic E-Type was presented on 15. March 1961 at the Geneva Motor Show. The sports car was, so to speak, a further developed road version of the D-Type racing car. Malcolm Sayer was responsible for the design, it is considered a milestone in sports car design.
In 2017, an international jury of the German magazine "Auto Bild Klassik" elected the Jaguar E-Type as the "most beautiful car of all time". Above all, the E-Type was also a competent sports car. The first version with a 3.8-liter six-cylinder in-line engine and an output of 269 hp drove the car up to 240 km/h.
Later there were also weaker and much stronger variants. The E-Type was built until 1974, around 75,000 copies with different engines were produced. Well-preserved Series 1 models are now traded for about 150,000 euros.
#5: Jaguar XJ
The Jaguar XJ, which was introduced in 1968, was Jaguar's first luxury model, and at the same time the last car built under the direction of company founder William Lyons. The representative car was initially offered with two six-cylinder engines with 149 or 186 hp, from 1972 Jaguar also offered the top variant XJ 12 with a 5.3-liter V12 engine.
This model was the only four-door passenger car with a twelve-cylinder engine on the German market until 15 years later (1987) the BMW 750i came on the market. In total, the Jaguar XJ series was built in three series until 1992. With more than 404,000 copies, the Jaguar XJ models were the most successful Jaguar series to all.
Via GQ Germany