The Hagemann Jag Special was built from the ground up in 1955 by Babe Sulprizio in San Leandro, California. The tube frame was inspired by the C-Type Jag. Suspension and brakes were mostly Jaguar. Sulprizio built the chassis to take one of the new Chevy 265 V-8's but the local Chevrolet assembly plant in Oakland refused to sell him one without a car around it, so he installed a 302 GMC ('Jimmy') 6. After the Jimmy failed in its first race, it was replaced by a 3.4-liter Jag DOHC power plant from an XK 120. The brakes were originally drums, but after Laurie's first race in the car at Laguna Seca in 1976 (no brakes by the sixth lap), they were replaced with XK 150 discs. The suspension utilizes longitudinal torsion bars and the differential is located with a transverse torsion bar connected to one side of the chassis.
The beautiful one-off aluminum body was fabricated by Jack Hagemann. He wanted to polish the aluminum rather than paint it (like his Webster Can-Am car), but Sulprizio insisted it had to be red, and so it was. The body has a strong Italian influence (e.g. Ferrari Monza) and Laurie quickly tired of being asked, 'What kind of Ferrari is that?' So in the early 1980's he changed the color to British-American Racing Green, i.e. BRG with a bit of metal flake added. No one has asked the Ferrari question since.Also photographed at :