After having several cars built by Dr Greg Beacham in Havelock New Zealand, Greg confided in me in 2015 that he was tired of fixing rusty E-Types, and he was going to build and all carbon fiber E-Type Roadster – the CFE. He also explained to me that it would have the pretty front and rear of a Series 1 E-Type but the long doors and the fender flares of the V12 Series 3 cars (way easier to get in and out of).
Well, there was nothing to say but “I’ll have one”. So, in May of 2015 I sent — in a 20-foot container — a 2010 Jaguar 5.0 supercharged XKR coupe and a piece of front subframe from a 69 XKE that I had a Florida title to Beacham Jaguar in New Zealand. Now is where the story gets long…
Greg had just started this project by taking molds off a steel car that he had built for a German customer and building a wooden body buck to use for a mold for the floor pan and middle part of this new car. It was designed from the onset to accept the donor parts from 2010-2015 Jaguar XKR.
As you can see from the photos it was a huge, costly, and time-consuming project. Many setbacks, redesigns, and cost overruns ensued so by the time my car was actually finished, seven and a half years had passed. Over a quarter of a million dollars and been wired until my car finally arrived and we opened the container here in Georgia in October 2023.
Yes, it was the longest and most costly project I’d ever been a part of but oh, what a car. A thoroughly modern and usable Jaguar E-type that could sit in traffic on a 100-degree day with the AC blowing Ice cold in a 510 HP, 2600-pound little road rocket – and I could actually fit in it! Everywhere you look, it’s a work of art and perfect in every way.
This is the only 5.0 supercharged, carbon fiber CFE that will ever be built as Beacham only had 6 carbon fiber bodies built, all of which are now sold, and he doesn’t plan to build anymore. If he did, he would use the older 4.2 V8s as donors as he did on other CFEs due to horribly complicated electronics of the 5.0 XKRs.