Manufactured by legendary British automobile company Jaguar, the Jaguar XKE Series 2 remains highly popular to this day in automotive circles. The Jaguar XKE Series 2's good looks, excellent performance, competitive pricing and easily handling resulted in impressive sales figures and a lengthy production run of nearly 15 years.
The upgraded version of a two seat sports car, the Jaguar XKE Series 2 refined many times throughout its production. The unique characteristics of Jaguar XKE Series 2 were open headlights without glass covers, a wrap-around near bumper, repositioned larger front indicator, and tail lights positioned below the bumper. Later on in the Jaguar XKE Series 2's life cycle upgraded brakes, a better cooling system and twin electric radiator fan were installed.
Not all of the modifications were universally admired, however. Some XKE owners claimed that the modifications made the car slower, albeit smoother to drive. Such criticism, although commonplace at the time, did not take into account the fact that Jaguar at the time were struggling with meeting changing auto safety and emissions regulations in the U.S. The company was scrambling to retool its entire production line to meet new U.S. regulations, while at the same time devoting resources to developing its high-volume sedan business.
As they did with the legendary Jaguar XK 120 of the late '40s, the XKE Series 2 was designed primarily as a high-end, high performance road car. The car's design, beauty, extraordinary performance, charged up mechanical specification earned it rave reviews made it a star virtually overnight. The Jaguar XKE Series 2 achieved much of it popularity for its excellent performance on the race track and ranked highly in terms of customer satisfaction.
Although designed mainly for driving in city roads, the Jaguar XKE Series 2 was famous for winning nearly every race it was entered in. This cemented the XKE Series 2's reputation as both an attractive road car and a high performance race-car.
Not many Series 2 models were manufactured prior to the bonnet design change. The louvers on the top of the bonnet's huge expanse were contained in a pair of add-on pieces; they were eventually pierced directly into the sheet metal for extra strength and stability. In the earliest models the hood couldn't be locked or unlocked without needing to insert a special T-shaped instrument on each side; this cumbersome arrangement was eventually replaced with more convenient cockpit levers.
For three years all the way up to autumn 1964 the 3.8-liter XKE was modified and altered in every conceivable way. Rear-axle ratio was upped from 3.31 to 3.07:1 for easier high-speed cruising, though the main gear set would eventually return to regain lost low-end acceleration.
New piston rings that reduced oil consumption, and a new brake-operating system was fitted to allow for more consistent stops with less effort. The handbrake was given an auto-adjusting mechanism to make it easier for owners who previously had to do the dirty job by hand. The interior was made more silent and the cooling system upgraded. The rear windows received a heater and the seats were upgraded to be more comfortable. Due to many customer complaints about the placement of the pedals, these were moved to a newer more comfortable position.
This level of attention to detail and non-stop dedication to improving the Jaguar XKE Series 2 based on ongoing customer feedback is largely the reason why the car was and still is so highly regarded by automotive enthusiasts.
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Click to http://www.jaguarxke.com/, the ultimate website for Jaguar XKE fans and enthusiasts.
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