Kicking in and round Kansas, AND Very COOL E-Type model found!!

By: Roger Hanes

In my business travels, I periodically get a phone call telling me that I need to be somewhere else by like say Thursday... or is it maybe a Monday? Anyway, one of those calls was to audit construction company invoices to the pipeline owners in and around Hesston, KS. Because the job involved a lot of windshield time between projects, it also afforded a little downtime. Now downtime can be spent in a number of way... visiting museums, and every little burg in Kansas has at least one they call their own... or one can make inquiries about some special dining opportunity... they happen in Kansas... just not very often... or wandering some dusty antique shop... in this town or another town the road. In a shop called Emma Creek Antiques, Hesston, KS, I spotted... of all things, a metal die cast, 1/18 scale model of a 1961 Jaguar XKE in amazing detail... for like $12. Before I even picked it up to carry to the cashier for purchase, I had it identified as a 1961... only one of which I ever remember seeing. The tell tale identifier of 1961 were the outside bonnet releases. Alas, while the detail is amazing, it is missing a few of those details. The headlights are covered with clear plastic identical to the glass used in early XKEs. While the left front turn signal assembly is missing, the right one is intact and amber colored... not sure whether that is correct for the year... but probably. Amber coloring for front turn signals started in European cars before being mandated here in the US sometime in the 1960s. The car is left hand drive, and the wheels roll and are directionally changed by the steering wheel, but the knockoff hubs do not turn with the wheels... and I am OK with that. The engine detail is amazing. It is obviously a 3.8 liter Jaguar engine... you can tell by the valve covers..., and yes you can see that the engine is being fed by three SU carburetors drawing air through the canister air cleaner. I notice that the battery sits crosswise in the engine compartment, and I just do not remember if I ever saw that on an E-type... I thought they all sit lengthwise. None of the Lucas electrical equipment... save the battery is present. Enough with the engine compartment. The bonnet configuration both inside and outside appear correct. It appears that there are fourteen louvers in the bonnet, but I could have miscounted... and correct to the time, the bonnet is graced with a pair of bullet rear view mirrors. With the exception of the dashboard color, the instrument console shows the four gauges we all remember, plus the tachometer and speedometer.

The gearshift lever moves, but while the emergency brake is correct, it does not actually work. The windscreen even sports a perfect growler decal. While both the driver and passenger doors open, both are missing their door panels... if they were ever there in the first place. The door handles may have been true to form for 1961, but I never remember any of my E Type door handles being attached to a raised relief door skin. Even the back hatch opens correctly, and the boot is true to form. This time, it is the right rear tail light assembly that's missing. The tires are marked Dunlop and 7.00 x 4.5.Turning the model over, the exhaust system is anatomically correct, and the name "burago", Jaguar E-Type (1961), Scala 1/18 Made in Italy, all appear. Wondering about the models possible value, I look up the name "burago" on my web browser and discover that they manufactured a number of XKEs, both coupe and cabriolet, and in different color combinations from red, to silver, to primrose, and even BRG. It looks like the normal pricing, NIB runs between 45-50 Euros, and $50-$60 US.