I'm lucky enough to work a job where I get to work on some truly interesting automobiles. One day its brakes on a '28 Chevy. The next its a trans on a '59 Cad. The next its an engine replacement on a Model T. With the exception of a Rolls Royce, the XKE Jag I'm dealing with now has been a royal PITA.
I'll be honest, I'm a Vette guy not a Jag guy. They look like a fish to me, but I do understand how they appeal to some people. Pop the hood and the inline six looks beautiful. The square tube front subframe looks positively racecarish compared to a C2 Vette. Then I got to work on it...The clamshell front hood doesn't open the whole way without the nose smacking into the pavement. I had the joy of replacing the brake calipers on the car. The rears are inboard disc. Guess what step one in the manual is for rear caliper replacement? Remove the whole rear suspension/diff/axle from the car. That's right. Leaky calipers = removing the rear third of the car's mechanicals. To do that one must also pull half the interior out to get to the trailing arm bolts as well as half the exhaust system. I'm venting here. I admit it. I know the car performs well as a poor man Ferrari. You take the good with the bad in my job and The E-Type definitely belongs in the bad. In the end, its British and I guess that sums it up. Thank god it doesn't have wiring issues...yet.

 

Always nice to learn of these things before you own one.

 

Thank God, the last of the E-Types were made in the 70s. The newer ones are though....

 

While the E Types were possibly the most beautiful car ever made they were horribly built.
I owned one for 2 years.
It was painful

USAF