…WHAAAT?
Speak up, Sonny, ya caint be heard!
Let me see. It’s because I had cars with loud exhausts, and airplanes too, that I can’t hear much today at 74 but because I like a bit more sound than a standard Jag, I will still be able to hear my loud exhaust at 90! Did I get this right?
Yes… but that might be ALL you can hear.
In all seriousness, my lack of using proper hearing protection, for so many years, around so many things including the Jag, have now cost me the ability to hear my music completely, or to hear crickets chirping, or to hear the lawn sprinkler tick-tick-ticking next-door.
We all will pay the price.
Sound protection through the years is certainly important.
That being said, I need to hear my V12 spin up and growling. You can have that without being too obnoxious to others.
I had a 427 Cobra (replica but with a real 428 cobra jet engine) for 20 years. Now THAT was obnoxious. I could burp the throttle in a street and light up the car alarms…
My first series one was a 67 OTS that did not have a muffler but an H crossover equalizer pipe, perhaps homemade and resonators. It is the best sound you will ever hear, it sounded like a Ferrari no BS…
I have to agree that one of the unexpected consequences of hearing loss is that nusic does not sound so great anymore…sad
I know of one FHC S3 which has straight pipes instead of centre silencers/mufflers. Outside the car it sounds …er… purposeful. Inside the car it drums at normal cruising speed.
I once talked to the owner of a S1 with a straight through system, which he campaigned on local hill climbs. He had to wear ear plugs when driving the car to and from the course, so noisy was the exhaust.
I followed a modern sports car recently in th e dark (I cannot remember which one). My headlamps lit the exhaust tips and it was obvious that the left side exhaust was blanked off with a metal plate. That is until the driver pressed the loud pedal a little harder, then the blanking plate moved and the exhaust became very much louder.
If I can still drive it when I’m 90 I’ll be the luckiest man in this country! 
My anesthetist dad and dentist brother never made it even to 50. I did (two years ago.)
In our E-type 60th anniversary event we had two gents who are 86, the other one has had a 1961 FHC for ca. 15 years, he was driving despite the heat, but the other gent who has had his 1967 OTS since he personally drove it out of the Browns Ln. plant, was sitting in the passenger seat while his ca. 50 year old son was driving #1E16061.
But two years ago I was in the passenger seat while he (the original owner) was driving, and very spirited IMO. 
Cheers! 
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Yes indeed. I put myself through college playing lead guitar in a rock group and I have done many things over the years that have hurt my ears: guns, air hammers, engines, weed whackers, motorcycles, etc. Self inflected damage or…maybe, just like my wife and my female cousins whose hearing is worse than mine, it is genetics. I’ve been practicing hearing protection for 30 years and yet they continue to degrade. And, like Paul, I cannot hear the crickets, the squeaky fan belt, or my music completely (maybe that’s a good thing!)
Joking aside, if the Jag is too harsh, I will tame it down because I do not like the constant drone and thrumming motoring down a highway. But I went to a Jag show just a couple of weeks ago, and that factory type exhaust is just too tame to stir my soul. With all of them running in the parking lot, you could still hear the A/C running on the building next to the lot. The Jag’s engine deserves more than that…
Um…I’m no audiologist, but I think the overwhelming problem is, as is the same in my life, exposure, and likely not genetics.
I didn’t mean my loss was genetics, but with my lady cousins it certainly is; they never raised a hammer. Me? LOL, I did it to myself!! I’m on the left.
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Ah, that is it familiar sight! What model Gibson is that?
Back to topic: I agree, that the stock exhaust system on any given E is a little bit too quiet.
Yeah, how dare a car as civilized as an E-Type sound civilized.
I’ve got stainless down pipes and mild steel mufflers, intermediate pipes and resonators and it sounds just fine. Louder doesn’t mean better.
While visiting Lime Rock Race Track every Labor day and watching cars in different races, this car would run circles around beating basically thing in sight. The astonishing thing about this particular car is, it is as quiet as an electric car basically no . The other you will hear them a mile coming before they are being seen. I’m hoping to cheer them on again this coming Labor day, They are well represented and very exciting to watch…
Gibson SG Special Faded. Made in 2003 I think. Nice player, nothing outstanding. I’ve tuned it to 9th degree.
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Yeah John, your mild steel muffler may sound throaty and deep. I am a bit worried about the straight through SS sounding tinny and harsh. We’ll have to wait and see.
More like kind of a purr at idle and a subdued growl upon acceleration.
Civilized doesnt mean silent, either.
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I.e., the Godilocks Principle. Too loud, too quiet, Just Right!
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Ultimately, playability is all that really counts.
In part, that’s why my guitar partner is having Flip Scipio (google him!) do the work on his ultra-rare Guild 612 12-string, which has now been verified to be one of 20 remaining.