After eight months of hand shaping and forming aluminium and magnesium, the very first Eagle Spyder GT is ready for launch.
Based on the classic Jaguar E-Type, the latest special-edition Eagle, like all cars from the company, takes the classic 1960s Jaguar and improves on every aspect in terms of handling, performance, balance and reliability.
However, usually, the improvements stop there. But with the Spyder GT, the company has also reimagined the outer shell so that visually it's an homage to the lightweight low drag track E-Types of 1963, but with the added advantage of a soft top, for wind-in-the-hair motoring.
"The Spyder GT represents the very best of what we do here at Eagle and we're thrilled to present it to the world," said Henry Pearman, Managing Director at Eagle.
The standard E-Type, though universally considered one of the most beautiful cars ever built, will never attain the levels of classic status afforded to its peers such as the Aston Martin DB5. And that's simply because there are so many of them on the roads. Jaguar built thousands upon thousands, and it built them at budget price meaning that even by 1960s standards, though they were cheap to buy they were often less than reliable.
Eagle started out in 1984 restoring E-Types. Then it moved to restomodding in as much as it would tune the engine, add better disc brakes and improve elements like cooling. And the company has evolved from there to the point where it can now offer keen drivers with £695,000 (about US$875,000) to spare an E-Type that is truly rare (the company plans to build fewer than 10), truly reliable and is truly fast, even by today's standards.
Thanks to that combination of lightweight aluminium and magnesium construction and a reworked Jaguar XK 4.7-litre straight six, the car can go from 0-100km/h in 5 seconds, on to a top speed in excess of 170mph and offers drivers up to 330hp and a five-speed gearbox.
What's more, it's got a modern adjustable suspension and a limited slip differential so it will handle and behave like a modern sports car in race mode (i.e., when traction and stability control are shut off) too.
But best of all, because it started life as a standard E-Type in need of total restoration, the finished hand-built car is completely road legal and owners won't be forced to save it purely for track days.
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