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This '66 Jaguar XJ13 Reproduction is One Rare Kitty

Jaguarxj13 434 An automobile that looks like a spaceship from a sci-fi movie and an owner who could have stepped out of a Ray Bradbury novel makes for compelling content... Jaguarxj13 439 Last weekend, at the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance near San Diego California, an intensely bespoke reproduction of the ultra rare 1966 Jaguar XJ13 graced the grounds along with incredible examples of pre-war to modern rolling automotive art. The quiet, stylish seaside village boomed with the sounds of revving motors and throngs of onlookers. Jaguarxj13 444 This 5.0 Liter V-12 British Racing Green (BRG) kitty-cat once represented Coventry’s dreams of dominance over the Big-block Ford GT40‘s and V-12 Ferrari 330 P4 in the LeMans 24 Hour-- but was sadly snuffed by rules changes for the endurance classic that lowered the displacement for prototypes to 3.0 Liters. To run with larger engines, manufacturers had to build 50 examples as production cars. Only one XJ13 was built. For many Jag-philes, this is perhaps the most beautiful leaper to ever emerge from the West Midlands. Jaguarxj13 438 The prototype one-off XJ13 came from the drafting board of Malcolm Sayer, the genius behind the aluminum bodied C and D-Types, the iconic E-Type and the XJ-S. His inspiration for the design came from years as an aerodynamicist at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Racing was in the infancy of downforce and slippery drag-reducing lines. But Sayer would draw the body around a powerful mid-mounted 502hp V-12 powerplant and the BRG cat would top out at over 175mph. Jaguarxj13 447 A young apprentice Jaguar test driver named David Hobbs would be the first to put the XJ13 through its paces at MIRA in Warwickshire and set a track record of 161mph. While Hobbs would go on to racing glory on both sides of the Atlantic and currently commentates on NBC Sports coverage of Formula One, the poor Jag would never see a starting line. The next lap that it would do in anger was again at MIRA in 1971 in the hands of Norman Dewis during the filming of a public relations drive promoting the E-Type. Unfortunately this time it would go home in pieces. Jaguarxj13 435 A deflating tire caused the CXJ13 to spin out of control, at 140mph, and flip end-over end several times. Dewis, who was not wearing a seatbelt, miraculously walked away. The car itself was repaired and restored in the mid-seventies--and a new motor was installed in the early 2000’s. The car is now part of the The Heritage Motor Centre in the UK and is run on occasion during the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Jaguarxj13 442 This bespoke replica example at the La Jolla Concours is almost as rare. Built by New Zealand coach company, Tempero in the mid-1990’s, just 6 painstakingly assembled alloy bodied-monocoque framed examples were released to the world. Jaguarxj13 440 At just 38.5 Inches tall, the aerodynamic Jaguar looks like a flying saucer. Its owner, Dr. J Craig Venter could also be a character out of science fiction. He is one of the pioneers of the Human Genome Project, the world’s largest collaborative biological project that determines the sequence of chemical base pairs and mapping genes which make up human DNA. Dr. Venter’s Celera Genomics leads the research arm of the private sector, which in its findings, could conceivably eliminate genetic diseases. Dr. Venter has been listed many times as one of the most influential people in the world. Jaguarxj13 436 Dr. Venter’s beautiful kitty does not have the original 502hp DOHC V-12-- Jaguar only produced seven of these engines for the short-lived XJ13 program. Instead this powerplant is a SOHC 380-bhp V-12-- still nothing to sneeze at, considering this lightweight street legal racing car also has a few added safety features including six point harnesses and a fire extinguisher system. Jaguarxj13 433 On the street, this sexy, slippery rarity will turn heads and at places like La Jolla, will stir the emotions.
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