Jaguar built more than 72,000 E-types between 1961 and 1974, so if one falls prey to mad scientists converting it into an electric lab rat, we may cringe but ultimately move on.
It should be criminal to molest an E-type?the only sports car Enzo Ferrari coveted more than his own and a permanent fixture in New York’s Museum of Modern Art?by replacing its stirring straight-six with a box of soulless batteries. But Jaguar has done this deed itself, and among fine creations by Singer and Icon, the E-type Zero is about as tasteful as restomods get.
Jaguar Classic, the factory restoration shop that opened last year, found a 1968 E-type roadster that likely had seen all of its best days. Unlike many EV conversions, this is no messy, tangled-wire hack job. Jaguar fitted a 40-kWh lithium-ion battery pack under the hood with more spot-on precision than Coventry assemblers would have exercised bolting in the original 4.2-liter six-cylinder engine.
The 295-hp electric motor and reduction gear fit exactly where the four-speed manual transmission sat, with all power routing to the stock rear differential. The EV components?developed with aid from Rimac, creator of the nutso, 1224-hp Concept One?can be swapped out for the original gas-swilling, carbureted powertrain, and that’s not simply to safeguard this E-type’s heritage. By fabricating all-new parts with similar sizes and shapes, Jaguar claims it hasn’t altered weight distribution, even as it shaved off 100 ...