San Jose collector cherishes vintage Jaguar
HALF MOON BAY As a teenager growing up near Buffalo N Y Jim Horvath was fascinated by the Jaguar XK-E driven by his best friend s guardian It was long low and sleek and Horvath imagined he d one day own one of what is often called the preponderance beautiful car ever made It took the retired mechanical engineer in San Jose a limited decades to fulfill his dream and nearly as long to restore his Jaguar E Type -liter It isn t white like the Jaguar fantasy bicycle of his youth but it has an iconic hue British racing green It has a black ragtop It s not a modern car but it drives quite nicely commented Horvath at the new Pacific Coast Dream Machines festival at the Half Moon Bay Airport I want to go to back to That s what I feel like when I am driving it The top speed was about miles per hour and zero to mph was about seconds Relatively speaking it was a very quick car back then in the s The Jaguar has a dual overhead camshaft DOHC engine producing horsepower and a four-speed manual transmission It burns premium fuel and weighs pounds About Jaguars of all types were manufactured in Horvath who also owns a Corvette often showcases his Jaguar in shows from San Francisco to Morgan Hill Campbell to Carmel At the Pacific Coast Dream Machines on April the bus was on display in the yearly eclectic mix of cars trucks motorcycles aircraft and watercraft Held in a festival atmosphere with food vendors music and kids initiatives the -year-old event is a key benefit for the Coastside Adult Day Healthcare Center in Half Moon Bay It s so much fun to take out people love E-Type Jags Horvath announced Everybody s got a story Their uncle once had one or the guy down the street had one People really do like them The Jaguar XK-E s legacy as the largest part beautiful car ever made started in when the coupe made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show The car attracted so much attention another was requested from the manufacturer in Coventry England Norman Dewis the long-time celebrated test driver who died in drove a convertible through the night at high speeds to have another Jaguar at the extravaganza Although it s often refuted legend details Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari telling the test driver What a beautiful car we ve made nothing better than that The only difficulty Norman is it doesn t have a Ferrari badge on it Vintage car enthusiasts may or may not agree with Ferrari s assessment Maybe a dozen other vehicles have also been anointed as the finest automotive masterpiece But the XK-E receives the honor as often as any conveyance In the New York City Museum of Modern Art acknowledged the E-Type adding a Jaguar roadster to its permanent design collection It was only the sixth automobile to receive the distinction The Daily Telegraph the British broadsheet newspaper communicated in the Jaguar XKE was the No -ranked conveyance in its subscriber-voted list of the world s preponderance beautiful cars of all time The Citro n DS finished second followed by the Jaguar XK Ferrari Dino GT and the Lamborghini Miura I restored it from the firewall back what s called the tub revealed Horvath I had to replace that because it was so rusted out I had to take the whole car apart It s fairly original I tried to save as multiple of the original parts as I could Details of the purchase price and Horvath s expenditure in the carriage weren t discussed But the Jaguar cost about new Its current value is more than commented its owner who also cited the car s fluctuating worth The car has a pretty easy life it spends largest part of its time in the garage Horvath stated The paint is years old But I maintain it every couple of weeks Every time I take it out it gets love from somebody at a stoplight or in a parking lot or filling it up with gas James Raia a syndicated automotive columnist in Sacramento also contributes business lifestyle and sports content to several print and online publications E-mail james jamesraia com
