When only a Jaguar XKE will do — three decades later

When John Carnahan was a young man, he talked his father into buying him a 1968 Jaguar XKE 2+2 coupe. He drove it for several years before moving to Alaska, where in a moment of weakness, he sold the British sports car.

It was a move that would haunt him for years.

“You know how it is. You always want the car you had as a kid,” he said.

He owned other cars, including Jaguar sedans.

“I always had a Jag, except for about a 10-year period there,” he said. “People always say they don’t drive well, but they drove great.”

The idea of another XKE remained in his mind. But it wasn’t until the early 1980s that an opportunity to buy one presented itself.

This car wasn’t a coupe, though. It was a low-mile, rare black-on-black 1969 XKE roadster owned by Tim Farrell.

“It had probably 40,000 miles on it when I bought it,” Carnahan recalled. “I remember when the car first came to town, it had disc wheels on it. The first thing I did was put wire wheels on it. I later sold those disc wheels back to Tim.

“We became good friends over the years. You get to know everybody who ever owned one of these cars. There are quite a few of these around hidden in garages,” he said.

The original Jaguar XKEs were built in 1961 and were an instant success, with their sleek design and impressive performance. As the cars evolved, minor changes were made, sometimes in the middle of a model year.

“It’s the same body style as 1961 … it’s almost a timeless design,” Carnahan says. “But you can get three or four ’69s together and a lot of parts won’t be the same.”

Over the years, the iconic headlight bubbles were removed, larger safety bumpers were installed and the original three-carburetor setup was replaced by twin carbs, he explained.

“They were originally 150-mph cars, but by the time the government got done with them, they were probably only good for 140 mph,” Carnahan said.

His car underwent a full nut-and-bolt restoration not long after he bought it. The chassis was cleaned up and given a coating of gloss black POR15 protectorant. The all-steel bodywork was repainted in original jet black by Leroy Thompson.

Carnahan’s version retains its factory 4.2-liter overhead cam inline 6-cylinder engine, which is bolted up to the matching factory 4-speed manual transmission. He modified the single air intake box, opting instead for individual air cleaners attached to the dual Stromberg 175 carbs.

He had Lorac ceramic coat the dual exhaust manifolds in silver to complement all the aluminum components under the forward-tilting hood/fender assembly. Rubber brake hoses were replaced with braided stainless steel lines for durability.

Carnahan isn’t a purist, insisting on all-original parts.

“This is a driver … I change things,” he said.

But he retained the iconic Jaguar independent rear suspension with its inboard-mounted disc brakes. The factory dual exhaust system remains in place, too, the chromed mufflers and exhaust tips slanting up at a jaunty angle under the rear bumper of the low-slung roadster.

The true knock-off wire wheels run a matched set of Michelin 205/70R15 blackwall tires.

The black leather bucket seats are in their original upholstery and the 160 mph speedometer, full-sized tachometer and auxiliary gauges are also factory-installed pieces, all in working order.

In the more than three decades, he’s been back behind the wood-rimmed steering wheel, John Carnahan has rolled the odometer up to a total of a little over 62,000 gently used, but still exhilarating, miles. He’s never been tempted to find out how fast his XKE roadster really is and enjoys occasionally showing it at area get-togethers.

And this will be the XKE that, unlike his first, won’t get away from him.

This story was originally published April 6, 2017 at 10:41 AM with the headline "When only a Jaguar XKE will do — three decades later."