V12 Jaguar E-Type

The successor to Jaguar’s iconic E-Type was not scheduled to debut until the 1976 model year, and before this happened Jaguar needed to move its remaining stocks of the V12-engined E-Type. “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday” had always been a favorite American axiom, so in 1974 Jaguar U.S. sales chief Michael Dale contracted successful race-preparation gurus Joe Huffaker and Bob Tullius to build two cars for SCCA class B-Production racing on the West Coast and East Coast, respectively. Lee Mueller drove the Huffaker car to victories at Seattle, Wash., Ontario, Calif., and Portland, Ore., while Tullius in the Group 44 machine scored wins at Summit Point, W.Va., Gainesville, Fla., Bryar, N.H., and Nelson Ledges, Ohio. As a result, both drivers won their respective Regional Championships and appeared at Road Atlanta in Georgia for the national finals. Unfortunately, Mueller suffered a flat tire, but Tullius finished less than a second behind the B-Production-winning Corvette. It had been an auspicious beginning.

The 1975 season proved even more successful, with the E-Types scoring 10 wins between them during the season and found themselves once again facing each other in the National Runoffs at Road Atlanta. Again, the unfortunate Mueller had difficulties—the differential carrier broke and took him out on the warm-up lap—but Tullius won convincingly with a 30-second margin of victory after setting the fastest lap of the race.