Daniel Craig, the current James Bond had famously declared that Mike Myers had “f***ed them bad” as in, satirized secret spies so much, the Bond movies now had to be very, very serious. Full of sexual innuendos and jokes that could sail over an innocent’s head, the Austin Powers' movies were a smash hit.
Another hit that came out of the movies was the “Shaguar”; the two “Shagadelic” Jaguars used in the movies, one being a 1970 E-Type and the other a 2001 XK8.
While the Jaguar XK8 resides in a Texas museum and seems safe and sound, whatever happened to that classic British-flag wearing 1970 Jaguar E-Type?
Watch the movie today and you'll find there was nothing classy about the movie with Mike Myers playing a stereotypical spy with plenty of ribald humor and jokes that fell on the wrong side of political or moral correctness. But the car was still very much a hero and sparked such a trend that many other inspired cars came out of it, bearing “Swinger” on the car.
The “Swinger” In The Movie
Little else propelled Mike Myers to the fore as did his role as Austin Powers, a parody of the James Bond movies as well as the other popular spy flicks of the ‘60s. The movie’s premise starts in the ‘60s when Powers’ arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil, also played by Myers, cryogenically freezes himself. Powers, driving the E-Type Shaguar, offers his services and gets frozen too, till he is called to action, ruffle collar and all, in 1997.
Magically, the car is also in the same pristine condition and becomes his ride with the word Swinger emblazoned on the rear license plates. Equally magically, his erstwhile assistant (and love interest) has had a daughter, and she becomes his new girlfriend and later wife.
The car stays with him all through the movie, though in the later movie the Xk8 was introduced with a different paint scheme, still in the Union Jack theme.
The Power Of The Car
The E-Type was not only gorgeous, but it also came Enzo Ferrari certified as one of the world's most beautiful cars. With slinky lines that Myers found "almost obscene"; there were two E-Types Shaguars made for the movie. Both carried a 4.2-liter inline-six-cylinder that made more than 265 horses, making it sprint 0-60 mph in 6.3 seconds with a top speed of 142mph. That said, the Shaguar now stands 50 years old, so it’s probably not as spry as it used to be in the ‘70s.
We don’t know from where the production company got the cars but both were fully restored before being used for production and promoting the movies. It is reported that only one of the cars, the right-hand drive one was used in the movie. The second was used for promotions.
The Ownership And Current News
One of the cars, as reported by Top Gear in 2010, was on auction on eBay. At the time, the Jag had only 4,000 miles on its meter and was most-known for that Union Jack livery, something that took over 400 man-hours to complete and caused this car to be a sensation. The steering of this car was changed and put on the left because, during promotions, this car was driven around in the US so it had to toe the line.
The owner, in 2010, was Alan Lewenthal, a man known for buying, restoring and selling classic cars, the same guy who owns Marquis Auto Restorations and comes in the TV series, Car Czar. That said; the eBay bid was withdrawn and for a while, no one knew what happened to the car.
In 2012, this Shaguar popped up for sale again. All this while, it lay with a Belgian car enthusiast and now boasted 6,473 miles on it. Why it could not find a forever home with the gentleman in question is almost as funny as the movie, or even more. The Belgian owner's wife had a problem with the Shaguar because it attracted too many feminine wiles, something she had a major problem with.
The car was now being offered via a Netherland-based classic car dealer, E&R Company. They listed it for sale replete with a certificate of authentication and a letter from the production company, New Line Cinema. The car was sold for an undisclosed amount to someone who refused to be named, and E&R Company also refused to give out any further details to protect their buyers’ privacy, as is their right.
That said, we dug in deep and found a Trip Advisor article that showed off the private car collection of antique cars of HSH Prince Ranier III of Monaco, and sure enough, the left-hand-drive 1970 E-Type Shaguar stood tall and proud in the lineup. So one car is alive and well and thriving somewhere in the EU.
As for the other car, it was reported that in 2008, it was being used by the Jaguar Heritage Trust Museum located at Browns Lane, Coventry, to attract students into going to the college. The museum, since then, has shut down and the cars spread out at the Jaguar Gallery at Coventry Transport Museum as well as the Jaguar Collection at Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon in Warwickshire. The E-Type does not find a mention anymore. What happened to it is anyone's guess...
Sources: PackAutomotiveMuseum, DailyMail, TopGear, Telegraph, TripAdvisor