Herb:
Actually, the factory was quite vague on the "XKE" moniker. It was released
in Europe as the "E-type". American dealers and the ad agencies they hired
for publicity advertised the car from the outset as the "new Jaguar XK-E".
You are likely correct about American buyers being more familiar with the
"XK" prefix signifying a Jaguar sports car. LeMans victories did not carry
as much weight with Americans as it did with Europeans hence the C-type and
D-type were not a household name in North America.
See http://www.jag-lovers.org/brochures/63cat.html
Just to show you how much fun a British Car list can be: First several
commercial contributors to the E-type mailing list flamed each other so bad
on the list that they ended up suing each other. Now the archives have been
shut down because some people challenged the legality and the ownership of
the information listed in them. What fun! Now you know why I sold my Jags.
You should have seen the comraderie at the Jag Concours (tongue in cheek
here).
Let's get back to talking about spridgets on the best list on the net.
Daniel58612
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Herb_Goede@amsinc.com [SMTP:Herb_Goede@amsinc.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 1999 6:39 PM
> To: spridgets@autox.team.net
> Subject: LBC Trivia
>
>
>
> Question: Who manufactured the XKE?
>
> Answer: No one.
>
> XK-E is synonymous to "bugeye". The term was never used by Jaguar. The
> car's actual moniker is E-Type as a further development of the C and
> D-Type
> race cars.
>
> One rumour I heard was that Jan & Dean made up XK-E for dead man's curve
> because E-Type didn't fit. (An XKE pulled up on the right.) Doubt it is
> true though. More likely that the damn colonials (us) combined XK150 with
> E-Type and got XKE. Anyone know for sure?
>
> Kind of funny if you think about it now that Ford calls the new Jag sports
> car an XK-8 and the upcoming sedan is a "place letter here"-Type.
>
> Herb G.
>
>
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