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1958 Jaguar XK150 Hot Rod

1958 Jaguar XK150

It’s not all that uncommon to see an XJ6 with a 350, but when was the last time you found a XK150 with the swap? European built engine can make Americans nervous for some reason. I’ll never forget that Bugatti race car Josh and I saw that was powered by a flathead Ford! Anyway, I’m not sure if a previous owner was hoping for cheaper maintenance or just wanted more power, but for whatever reason, they transplanted a Corvette drivetrain under this beautiful Jaguar drop head coupe! It’s located near Denver, Colorado and is listed here on eBay where bidding starts at $30k. Thanks goes to Peter R for the tip!

Corvette V8

There’s the Corvette V8! The seller states that it’s from 1958 and is a the 230 horsepower version. No mention is made of when the conversion was completed, but the car has sat in a barn for the past 25 years. They claim that it ran when parked, but that was a long time ago so this isn’t something you are going to just jump in a drive home. It is going to need a lot of work to just make safe and that’s still not a guarantee that it will be “right”. It would be fun to try though!

Four on the floor

To make things even more exciting, there’s a four on the floor inside! The shifter and steering wheel look out of place here, but those shouldn’t be too hard to correct. The next owner will have bigger things to worry about anyway. There’s plenty of filler and rust in the body that will need addressed. Luckily, there is a new interior kit and top included in the sale though.

Jag Grill

Cars with none factory engines are always a gamble. You might get lucky and get one that was well-engineered and done right or you might get a dud that was hacked up by someone who didn’t know what they were doing. Hopefully this is a good one and can be made to go again. As much as I love original cars, it would be fun to see what this thing can do. The V8 probably didn’t put out anymore than the original inline-six, but I bet the torque made things interesting. What do you think of this converted cat?

Comments

  1. Avatar Bob S

    If you are putting a small block where it wasn’t meant to be, make it an LSX. Those make everything better.

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  2. HoA Howard A Member

    See, now this I don’t really care for. While I’m all for the Chevy V-8/ XJ swap ( that V-12 was a temperamental beast), there was nothing wrong with the 6 cylinder. The 2 worlds kind of clash with this setup. The XK was never intended to be a drag racer. Don’t get me wrong, I love a V-8, but the 3.8 were just great motors, and probably put out almost as much hp (or more) as this motor, and the sound is music to my ears. The British were known for their superior motors, helped win WW2 with their aircraft engines. I think even the most steadfast Brit would approve of the V-8/XJ swap, this, however, would make them roll their eyes in disbelief. Cool car, but give me the 3.8 any day.

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  3. Avatar James

    That car was not found in a barn, it was found in a field. It was on the HAMB and the guy that found it got it for a song because it was sitting out in a field for years.

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  4. Avatar Neil G.

    A 350 under the hood of a classic Jag does nothing for me and wouldn’t impress any of my friends at this weekends car show. Guess I’m a purist at heart.

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  5. Avatar Doug M. (West Coast)

    Barn?….. Field?…. …Whatever… Still is a cool car that was pulled out of long-term storage/neglect of some kind. I would wash it up and drive it as is while looking for a solid older Jag 6 motor to put back into it…. only thing is for me, I like the outside color, but would have trouble putting money into a green interior!

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    • Avatar Bill McCoskey Member

      That interior is not even close to original. They even covered the beautiful burl walnut wooden Facia [dash] with vinyl. Seats are cheap vinyl too.

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      • Avatar John H. in CT

        Bill, the Open Two Seater never came with burl wood. Only the coupe and drop head versions had wood. Believe it or not, the dash is correct.

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  6. Avatar alphil

    I love the XK150’s,even this one,and all of the previous comments do make sense.Does anyone have experience as to what (if possible)it would take to bring this one back to original,OR,how bad would this frame be cut up to get this SBC in there? Although I would be tempted to restore it as is.Phil D

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  7. Avatar Mark S

    Did anyone notice the HEI distributor on the engine. HEI came out in 1975 and was a well designed all in one package with coil and control modual built into the distributor. I remember plenty of these being put into older Chevies to get rid of point ignition. As for this jag if it were mine I’d restore as is simple because this conversation was do so long ago that they belong together. It would be like turning a fifties hot rod made from a thirties coupe back into an original car. This conversion is part of this cars history and should be kept this way now.

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  8. Avatar Ian

    230 HP Corvette engine! The standard Jag had 210 BHP and the 3.8s 265 BHP, seems a pointless or low cost replacement to a blown Jag engine!

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  9. Avatar Joel w

    The seven fin low height script snd staggered valve cover bolts make it seem to be out of a 58 vette same as the fulie in my garage the engine stamp pad if intact with proper honing marks may be worth severa thousand dollars to a NCRS MEMBER NEEDING A CERTAIN MANUFACTURE DATE FOR A MATCHING NUMBER CAR

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  10. Avatar charlie Member

    I had an XK150 S, and it was tremendously powerful and fast, and handled very very well, but in the days before the internet, parts were very hard to find, and very expensive, and it spent about 3/4 of the time in the garage waiting for a part – an engine part. It took 16 quarts of oil, so owners didn’t change it, and that lead to early engine wear. But when it ran, it RAN!

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    • Avatar Van

      Do Jaguars really need that much oil or are the dipstick tubes just hit or miss.

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  11. Avatar John.H from CT

    As the owner of a concours 150S I can tell you these do not take 16 auarts of oil. Try half.

    You would do best with this car to pull the motor and tranny, and replace with a 3.8L jag engine and 5 speed manual that they make aftermarket for this cat.

    We don’t see what else is modified, but seam at the convertible top (the hood) is wrong. Car has door sag. Clearly hit at one time on driver side and the hood ( bonnet) which is aluminum, doesn’t line up properly. But gauges look good. Wonder what the quality of the new interior parts are. And that steering wheel is nasty.

    If the chassis isn’t rotted and you got this for $30K and put in another $35K -$40K along with some elbow grease you would have a decent 150 for the money. If you have to pay someone else to do everything you are way under water.

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  12. Avatar stillrunners

    James got it…..now being flipped…..

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  13. Avatar Rick

    Looks like the original front motor mount from the ’58 Corvette was used for the installation into the jag. And if the bolts are staggered on the valve cover (as pointed out by Joel w) wouldn’t they be 265 heads, or maybe even the motor’s a 265?

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  14. Avatar charlie Member

    Sorry about the oil amount, the dealer I bought mine from had just done a major service, and despite owning it for 4 years, I never put 5000 miles on it, since it was so unreliable, and never changed the oil.. It was a 1960 fixed head and had a vinyl, padded and not very good looking dash, and no wood at all. But the rocker panels and frame and floor pans did rust very badly. Hood and truck lid were aluminum.

    Like 0

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