In Ft. Worth, I had a rather well-to-do young friend from England in 1969, David Cook - David Francis.
He ordered himself a new 1969 Jaguar E-Type.
His father owned a large aircraft parts manufacturing company and my friend ran it; when he went back to England for a 2 week visit in 1969, he left his brand new Jaguar with me, a 21 year old car freak... a dream come true, right? I got stopped driving that car 90 miles per hour in a 30 MPH zone, along the Rockwood Park area in Ft. Worth... there was no traffic around, and I didn't consider it a dangerous act, but the Ft. Worth cop who stopped me, sure did. He ran the plates and they came back to David F. Cook, and then he ran my DL and found out I had unpaid speeding tickets with warrants.
The car was impounded and I was hauled to the slammer in lieu of several hundred dollars in warrant fines. I managed to bail out after a couple of hours, and David had to get his car from the pound when he came back home to Texas. He wasn't very happy, but somehow our friendship has survived a half century. David is still a car guy; he sold the company he owned and now he operates his perfect "retirement" plaything... Eagles Canyon Raceway near Decatur, Texas. David drives his own Ferrari on his own paved speedway winding over several hundred acres of rolling North Texas hills. (He also has a few other cars including a fully tricked out Porsche race car... lucky guy, huh!)
The view in the picture is from the driver's seat of my own '69 E-Type, another car that was on my bucket list for a long time after that early morning happy ride through Rockwood Park at 90 MPH one Saturday in 1969 in David Cook's Jag.
I found this car in Florida; it was property of the original owner, a doctor who had bought it new "right out of medical school" and had lovingly kept it until he got too stiff in the knees with Arthritis to drive a stick shift.
I bought it on the spot in West Palm Beach and enjoyed the ride back to Texas, top down, radar detector on dashboard, winding through the whole Southern Gulf Coast for a couple of days of top-down, carefree driving.
The E-Type is legendary for cornering and grand touring. Some people think it's the most beautiful sports-car body ever designed. The 4.2 Litre inline 6 cylinder engine with twin SU carbs develops 275 HP, with a top speed of 142. This is the type car that swept victories in numerous international races and even took top honors in the original Canonball Run from New York to Los Angeles back in the early 70's with Hal Needham and friends.
As I wind down my collection of cars, this E-Type will be among the last to go. My friendship with David however,will last forever.
My knees,thank the Lord, still work!
Kent Perkins
