The Eagle Speedster

Created as a bespoke vehicle for American Dr.Rick Velaj from Connetcticut when he said “I want something special…” Paul Brace from Eagle started sketching shapes and the two began talking. Somewhere along the road, the word Speedster was spoken and that seems to be what inspired Paul to draw the shape. Rick loved it and gave the go ahead.
Rick and Eagle’s owner Henry Pearman decided that such trivial items as time and budget should be disregarded and that they should would to create an extraordinary car that remained faithful to the Jaguar E Type of the 1960’s.
The most obvious thing is the stunning aluminium alloy body and bespoke glass, coupled with the deep red paint and quilted Edelman leather interior. Less obvious are features small and large such as minor things like the concealed handbrake to keep the smooth flow of the interior and the narrowed rear number plate aperture for USA reg plates, to the heavily revised lowered floor pan to set the driver much lower ‘into’ the car.
Underneath the body, Eagle engineering created a 4.7 litre straight six driving their own 5 speed gearbox and sports suspension setup.

There are many, many other small detail features created just for this car and the result comes together in what is simply the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in many year. And I haven’t seen it in the flesh yet..



[View with PicLens]



In recent years, Jaguar have created several great looking concept cars such as their F Type, but sadly none have made it into production. For me, this is the kind of shape that Jaguar should be building today, not the big fat barges that carry golf clubs from one course to another.

So even though there was no budget or time frame for the Speedster, the obvious questions are how long did it take and how much? Paul is understandably reluctant to quote hard figures, but the car was developed over a four year period in between other projects. Time consuming, expensive things such as tooling for the body, the stunning windscreen and working out the fine details of the perfect panel fit all take up valuable man hours.
As to how much. A ’standard’ Eagle E Type, if there is such a thing, costs £295,000 plus taxes. So add on the huge investment in time and research and it’s probably fair to say that the price tag will be the wrong side of £400,000. Can you buy one? Probably… But Eagle are flat out with their E Type business, so right now you might have to wait a while. Not the four years that Rick Velaj waited, but certainly not in time for this Christmas.

Speedster website at: http://www.jaguarspeedster.com/

Eagle E Types website: http://eaglegb.com/

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