"Lost" Loewy design resurfaces....

[J Boyle]

Avanti fans know that Raymond Loewy did a couple of customs for his own use in the late 50s based on a Lancia and a BMW. They were, well...different...and previewed some of the styling elements that would see production on the Avanti.

But, I'd never heard that he later tried to accomplish what most car fans would declare impossible, trying to improve the looks of the E-Type Jaguar.

After 40 years out of the public eye, his modifed 1966 Jaguar was displayed at Pebble Beach this week...

Check out these photos courtesy of Classic and Sports Car magazine...

http://www.classicandsportscar.com/blogs/mick-walsh/loewys-left-field-take-on-design-greats

While he wanted a grill-less look for the Avanti, that was clearly not his goal here.

The C-pillar has an Avanti look to it, the fuel filler is in the Avanti location and note the rear window was also enlarged, again following the Avanti (and predicting the trend of 70s hatchbacks).

The quarter windows look like the Toyota 2000 which came out around the same time. The frenched tail lights look like a Barris Kustom of the 50s.

I do rather like the recessed Kamm-like license plate area.

I'm sure purists will be horrified, but I've seen worse...

I would not be ashamed to be seen in it. But it's hard to improve on the basic Jaguar.

Edited August 22, 2011 by J Boyle

[Gunslinger]

I don't believe I've ever seen that Jaguar...while the XKE is a beautiful design and should have been left alone, Loewy's take on it wasn't too bad...some of his earlier cars like the BMW, Lancia and Cadillac had some really bizarre elements to them.

At least Loewy and his design team took the best parts of his previous individual efforts and put them into the Avanti. It also looks like Loewy took some of the Avanti design points and added them to the Jaguar. Still...the XKE is a design that stands on its own.

Raymond Loewy's book is entitled "Never Leave Well Enough Alone"...and oftentimes he didn't.