The Jaguar E-type may have been trying to evoke the cockpit of a Supermarine Spitfire. It reminds me of an anecdote from the autobiography of a former German ace and Messerschmitt Me-109 pilot Adolf Galland, who finally got to sit in the cockpit of a Spitfire. He looked around at all the scattered levers, switches, fuel shut-off valves, instruments, etc. and asked the British pilot, ‘How did you ever have time to fly?’ If you look at comparison photos of the two cockpits, the Me-109’s looks about as clean and simple as something you might find on a 356 Porsche, or maybe an early Beetle. So maybe cockpit design is just another extension of some tribal or national aesthetic. As an Egan, the E-type has always appealed to my Celtic side. But then I admire the 356 approach, too. Must be my German grandfather.