Nice Idea, but the Work!

Replicating the front end of an E-Type on a GT6? Well, of course it looks nice. It should – the GT6 was called the “Mini E-Type” from the outset. Long nose, curvaceous hips, fastback roof… it was Jaguar’s sexier cousin on a more realistic budget, provided you didn’t mind leaf springs and panel gaps you could post a letter through.

So when ChatGPT chirpily offered up a digital rendering of a GT6 with a graceful oval grille and just the right whiff of Jaguar about the nose (see above), I was – to use the technical term – seduced. The image looked lovely, and you have to admit it. Sleek. Clean. Balanced. And from there, like any deluded classic car owner, I found myself slipping down the rabbit hole of “How hard can it be?”

Quite hard, it turns out. The rendering forgot something important – reality. Specifically, the hinge pods. Those great steel clams that protrude proudly beneath each headlamp like a Victorian underbite. Essential to the GT6’s iconic clamshell bonnet, and utterly incompatible with any notion of E-Type purity.

Still, I pressed on. Surely if I just cut the right shape into the valance, I could retain the hinge pods and get the look. And yes – in steel, it's entirely possible. You can mark, cut, and roll a neat oval into the valance without disturbing the bonnet. The hinge pods stay, the bonnet remains untouched, and the result is surprisingly elegant. But this is fabrication work, not wishful thinking. It’s slow. It’s fiddly. It involves grinders, welders, and more measuring than you’d think necessary for something that “just looks right”.

Meanwhile, the temptation of fibreglass beckoned early on. Lightweight! Easy to shape! Malleable! The internet positively glistens with websites flogging fibreglass bonnets promising sleek profiles and less nose weight.

Except… I’m running a turbocharged Mazda 1.8 under there. A setup not known for its mild, tepid disposition. That thing throws out enough heat to make toast two feet away. Fibreglass, faced with that, responds like a cheap sunlounger left on a barbecue: warps, smokes, then wilts into a sticky, cracked mess. It’s not so much a bonnet as a slow-burning fire risk.

Let’s not forget the structural realities. The GT6 bonnet doesn’t just sit there looking pretty – it is the front end. It takes hinge loads, headlamp mounts, closing forces, and all the flexing of spirited British motoring. A steel bonnet shrugs it off. A fibreglass one squeals and begs for mercy before the second roundabout.

So, could I recreate that lovely oval-mouthed front? Yes. Would it look great? Possibly. Would it retain the character of the GT6 while nodding to its more glamorous cousin? Arguably.

But the work involved? Fabricating, reinforcing, measuring, welding, fettling, shaping, sealing, and painting?

Let’s be honest – it’s miles beyond my pay grade.