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Lightweight Cat: 1966 Jaguar Kougar Sport

1966 Jaguar Kougar Front

The Jaguar E-Type maybe one of Jaguar’s greatest sports cars, but Crosthwaite and Gardiner, the creators of the Kougar, saw room for improvement. Crosthwaite and Gardiner, who have been building and restoring race cars since the late 1950s, are experts in perfecting a car’s handling and performance. They conceived the idea for the Kougar in the ’70s, with the intent to design something that resembled the Frazer Nash Le Mans. While the Kougar was very successful, they sold off the rights to finance other activities. There were only around 320 original Kougars built and this is one of the 20 that came to the States.

1966 Jaguar Kougar Engine

This Kougar is powered by a wonderful 3.8 liter straight six that was built by Adam’s Racing. The 3.8 liter engine is an amazing piece of machinery. It is known for its free revving nature and incredible reliability, which made it a great engine for a race car. The engine is bolted to a four speed manual gearbox and sits in a tubular chassis. Crosthwaite and Gardiner wanted to build a balanced vehicle, so to keep the weight down they built the body out of fiberglass and shaved any fat off they could.

1966 Jaguar Kougar Interior

This car has been fully restored and looks as good as new. The Kougar was styled to be reminiscent of the roadsters of the 1950s and this is true of the interior as well. It’s extremely basic, yet highly functional and would be a comfortable place on the track or the street. It does however look very tight and could be difficult for taller individuals to climb in and out of.

1966 Jaguar Kougar Front Corner

This Kougar is amazing and we would love to own this beautiful Jaguar powered machine. It can be found here on eBay where it has a current bid of $2,325. Sadly the reserve hasn’t been met yet and we can only hope it is not set too high.

Comments

  1. Avatar J. Pickett

    I’m betting it’s a very high reserve. It won’t sell the 1st. time. Nice car but specialized.

    Like 0
  2. Avatar Foxy

    I would like to see a shot of it from the back. It looks like all 4 fenders are the same, but not sure. With that motors long legs , it should fly..

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  3. Avatar Jeff

    Neat specialty auto. I wonder if the 3.8L six was the predecessor of the 4.0L straight 6 in my 96′ XJR which is a very solid strong reliable engine (322hp factory stock w/supercharger).

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    • Avatar Michael Rogers Member

      This engine is one evolution of the 2.4,3.4, 3.8, 4.2 and a few other s starting about 1949. After decades of this wonderful\l lump Jag came up with a modern replacement or two.
      If the Kougar doesn’t add a t least a zero to that bid, it’s tooo cheap!

      Like 0
  4. Avatar Ron

    If this was their answer to the E Type I’m guessing the question was, “How can we destroy a beautiful car, but still leave it road worthy?”

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  5. Avatar Jeff

    I agree w/Ron. This car looks like it would of come before the E Type 40’s/50’s. With its British heritage, there is a strong resemblance here to a Morgan i.e. fenders, 2-seater, hood vents etc.

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  6. Avatar Jeff

    Very cool link here for car buffshttp://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/morgan-motor-company-makers-of-the-worlds-first-true-sports-car/

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Brian Peters

    Jeff, the 3.8L is the predecessor to the 4.2L of about 1967 or so. I’m pretty sure your 4.0 was a clean sheet design.

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    • Avatar Frenchy

      Jaguars 4.0 was a 4 valve per cylinder all aluminum clean sheet design which GM bought from JAGUAR just before Ford swooped in and bought Jaguar
      GM modified it to use Delco stuff etc and used it in their medium sized SUVs (Trailblazer Envoy etc) extremely reliable and decently powerful for the time

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  8. Avatar Jeff

    Thanks Brian, I had forgot abt the series 1-2. With FORD behind the wheel your prob right re:4L. Jag really botched it when they changed over to the 4L V8 98-03. The newer 4.2L V8 is ok.

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  9. Avatar His Royal Flatulence

    Saw one of these at a local car show several years ago. It is a fabulous-looking-and-sounding machine, not at all the cheesy kit car-type vehicle you might expect. It captures the 1950’s Special vibe perfectly, and is probably better built than 99% of the real things would have been. I was in lust.

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  10. Avatar Rich

    When Jaguar switched off to the 4L V-8-was it the 4.6L v-8 that Ford now sells? Just wonderin’ Thanks.

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  11. Avatar Jeff

    Rich, no totally diff engine. FORD developed the 4.6 32v Intech to counter GM’s 4.6 Northstar (Cadillac) in the early 90’s. GM’s Northstar is highly prone to head gasket failure around 100K miles, many deals out there on used Cadi’s-STAY AWAY!

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Jake

    There was a company in Omaha,NE building these as kit cars back in the 80’s. Used Jaguar components but left hand drive. Not sure how many they built but were built to a pretty high standard.

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  13. Avatar Paul Biggs

    I’m Secretary of the Kougar Owner’s Club, these cars are fetching between £20,000 to £30,000 in the UK, they are easy to maintain, great to drive, I know I have a 3.8 triple SU Kougar Sport Mark 1.

    Please contact me if you need further information or look at…

    http://www.kougarownersclub.orangehome.co.uk

    Like 0

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