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As my quest to recreate an exact copy of the 1966 XJ13 continued, I came across the story of the man largely responsible for making the original body - Bob Blake. What follows is the story of a man able to translate the designs of people, such as the legendary Malcolm Sayer, into metal. Contemporaries of Bob Blake described him as "An Artist in Metal".

"We need some rivets" said Paul. "OK" I replied, "What kind do we need?". Paul scratched his head and answered, "Dunno - I suppose we need to find out what Jaguar used in 1966".

Where did Jaguar source components in period? Although Jaguar were able to raid their “parts bin” for some components of their XJ13 Le Mans Prototype, most of the car’s major items were custom-made. “Off-the-Shelf” components used in period included things such as Lightweight E-Type (LWE) front suspension & steering rack (albeit modified), instruments, lighting and front wheels (as also used on the rears of LWE racers). However, major components used for the car’s rear wheels, drivetrain, power-unit, braking systems and rear suspension had to be custom made in period.

Hang on - I thought the late Norman Dewis was the XJ13's test driver? Noooo .... a common misconception but, in truth, the legendary Mr Dewis did not participate in all the tests. Contrary to popular belief, there were no "unofficial" tests and the car was driven at all of its outings during active development by David Hobbs.

In 2015 my first car was approaching its "rolling chassis" stage - mirroring events of 50 years earlier in Jaguar's Competition Department. It was then 1965 and William Heynes, Jaguar's Engineering Director still had hopes of seeing the car on track to contest that year's Le Mans endurance race. Time was short but the skilled team working behind closed doors were used to working to such tight deadlines ...

21st May 2016 marked the Centenary of the birth of one of this country's greatest design geniuses - Malcolm Sayer

A Building The Legend re-creation of the 1966 Jaguar XJ13. Shown here at the Honourable Artillery Company London Concours held earlier this summer. The quad-cam engine powering this car is the actual very first V12 ever to run at Jaguar. First heard in Coventry at a time when Jaguar still held hopes of a return to Le Mans with Malcolm Sayer's beautiful XJ13 https://www.buildingthelegend.co.uk/1966-le-mans-ford-vs... This engine was the inspiration for our very own and very exclusive tera quad-cam V12

This extract is reproduced courtesy of Octane Magazine. It describes the first outing of our Building The Legend re-ceation inspired by the one-and-only 1966 Jaguar XJ13. A car which inspired us to produce a limited run of customer cars before going on to create our unique and mighty quad-cam tera® V12 and our re-imagined E-Types. The tera® is inspired by the type of power unit that could have been heard howling down the Le Mans Mulsanne straight in 1966 and beyond - the engine that SHOULD have been installed in Jaguar's V12 E-Type at launch as well as their range of luxury V12 saloons. Words by Richard Heseltine.

Whilst sourcing parts for the rebuild of the 1966 car, I came across a reference to the use of an "original XJ13 windscreen" which prompted me to contact Pilkingtons on the off-chance the original windscreen patterns may still be available. The reference to the use of the original windscreen formers was found in a XJ13 brochure produced by Jim Marland (former owner of Proteus Cars) in the 1990s. I now have the information I need to ensure my recreation will follow the lines of the original windscreen exactly

Could the Jaguar XJ13 have beaten the GT40s?