As with many collector cars, early Jaguar E-Types are worth significantly more than later examples. While I would love to have an early flat floor E-Type, I would even be happy to have a ’70s 2+2! This V12 powered coupe is in pretty rough shape, but if bidding stays low and the reserve isn’t much higher than the current $7,500 bid! Even though it’s a less desirable vintage of E-Type, I’ve notice a significant increase in values over the past year and I fear they will just keep climbing. If you can do some of the body work yourself, you might actually be able to stay right side up on this one, plus you’d have an incredible experience and story to tell! Find this rusty Jaguar here on eBay in Tampa, Florida.
This Jag has rust problems all over, but the worst of it is in the doors and the floors, both common problem areas for these cars. When I say rust in the floors, I should be more clear in saying there was rust in the floors, now the floors are just gone… I’m not sure if the floors rusted away or if someone cut them out in preparation for replacing them, not that it really matters at this point. I do appreciate that the seller has provided a ton of photos of the underside, so you can see how extensive the rust issue really is. This one isn’t going to be for the faint of heart! If you plan on fixing it yourself, you’ll want to pick up a decent wire feed welding setup and be ready to become an expert welder!
Besides rust issues, this one also will need interior work (remember the floors are gone) and the engine is a mystery. The seller admits they found it just recently, after it was parked in 1992, and that they aren’t Jaguar experts. Not wanting to risk damaging anything out of ignorance, they haven’t touched anything or attempted to start it. While I don’t think you would need to be a Jaguar expert to check the condition of the engine, not messing with it was the right decision if they don’t know what they are doing. I’m sure if someone called them and walked through the process of turning the engine over buy hand, they would be able to do the job and give us more info on the engine’s condition.
I really like to be optimistic, especially when it comes to saving cars as beautiful as the E-Type, but I’m not sure this one will be saved. The more I look at it, the more rust I find. I have no doubt it could be fixed, but when you can still get solid examples in the $30k range, it just doesn’t make sense to restore this one, unless you really have your heart set on restoring a V12 Jaguar. It still has lots of parts though, so you could always use it as a parts car. If the engine and 4 speed both turn out to be in good shape, they could easily justify buying by themselves. Given the 35 bids already placed, I guess a few people want it! The question is, do they plan on restoring it or parting out? What would you do with it?
Such a shame. It still says Meow to me though. Oh if I didn’t have a garage full now….
Nice car, Josh, can you contact me via email? Thanks.
As the 190 SL zoomed into the stratosphere because of 300 SL insane prices, so will the last XKEs over time.
So Fred and Barney don’t want it any more?
NOT SO FAST:
Wouldn’t Wilma, Pebbles, Betty and Bamm-Bamm have the first right of refusal ?
I get the Fred and Barnie comment now, duh. They wouldn’t want it, all of their vehicles ran on “green” energy.
I would not want this example in my litter box. This, is a genuine pure “d old” money pit, and I do not think this one will gain or retain much value.
It’s worth the asking price given that all the parts are there. Complete teardown & new floor pans, seat covers, carpet, headliner, paint & primer, home rebuild on the engine, new battery & rad, rubber. The car would fetch over $20k, and it would not take more than one month. $10k x 12 = $120k per year.
Bob
What? I am not following you.
$7,500.00 for the car, plus materials and parts needed to restore the car. Assuming it would take one month to migweld the floor pans in and prep for primer & paint. Rebuilding the engine on a stand at home would not take long IMHO. $3000. for a new rad, carpet, battery, and headliner, spark plugs, ignition wires, distributor cap, carb kit, et cetera. After one month of work you could sell the $10k investment for $20k. That means $10k profit for one easy months work on the restoration.
Bob.
I’ll let more experienced guys comment on that, but it seems very optimistic to me. That V-12 will be a major expense, and I do not think it would be doable in a garage at home. 1 month? Have you done one like this in a month before?
I restored my 1966 Acadian Canso Sport Deluxe, but the welding on my Acadian was way more work, but I am sure that I could restore that to being a driver with a perfect body in one month assuming that the engine is not damaged, and it turns.
I could recondition the engine on a stand in my garage in that time too IMHO. The parts are all there and I would glass bead all the engine parts while I waited for a complete gasket set for the rebuild.
Bob
Are you up to the challenge? I could learn a lot by watching your progress.
when i restored the space shuttle i did it in less time while in space fighting aliens and filming the moon landing hoax at the same time.
Go for it, and let us know how it goes. One easy month. The rest of us have jobs….
Greetings All,
Robert, that tub needs more than floors! If you’d waste your time welding versus purchasing a new tub, your hourly rate would be pennies. The car needs more than just floors and you’ll need to check and put the datum points right as it there is no way the floors are missing and they are intact. A week with the tub, unless you already have a jig for the tub.
Still what you say is possible, just more feasible with a new tub, but remember this is a 2+2.
Rebuilding a V12……..lots wrong here. Weight overwhelms most stands. The last XK I did, had more than $6K into it and though I paid for the machine time, I did the machining and assembly and sourced the parts.
Twelves are a bitch, mainly because of the extra parts that are needed. Personally, with current quality of caps and other ignition parts, a crank trigger and coil-packs from a Subaru are a better way to go. FI better than the Strombergs.
You might want to purchase a mask for painting, the fumes can alter your thinking process and perception of reality, plus you want to finish high school with something intact, but I wish you luck.
Ross, I have a diploma in Mechanical Engineering, and I have a B.A. Honours in Experimental Psychology. My double filter respirator works fine,
and I know what the fumes do to a central nervous system. Moreover, I would do the floor with patch pans rather than a whole tub so that I would save time.
And luck has nothing to do with it IMHO. In Mechanical Engineering ‘luck’ does not factor in.
cheers, Bob.
A month.
Yes, a month. 12 hour days with Sundays off. 72 hours per week at four weeks works out to 288 hours. I am certain that I could finish within that time if the engine and trans work after I recondition them. Moreover, I am a Mechanical Engineering Technician, and my Miller ‘Fire Fly’ MIG is very easy to use, and never fails to deliver a good bead. And I am very skilled at body work, and welding.
Bob
I can’t afford to purchase the car to take you up on the challenge, Randy. If I win the lottery I will buy the car and rebuild it in one month. Please wish me luck on the lottery part, eh.
:)
Bob
Good luck on the lottery. If you and I could turn that kind of money each month, I’d finance the first car, and the profit would finance the next one.
Where are you located?
Bob,
That works out to $34.72 that you are earning per hour. Good money, no doubt but I don’t know if I would call it “easy”.
Maybe something more realistic for most us would be working on it for 8 hours every Saturday for a year. That works out to 416 hours of work and would allow for any unexpected events that may chew up some time. So you could supplement your annual income by $10,000 by working Saturdays for a year.
Naturally this assumes that a person taking this on would already have the necessary skills, experience and tools to do the job.
Gary
Full restorations require full time work on it or the projects never get done.
When I start a job welding I don’t stop until it is completed. Moreover, when bodywork starts you have to keep going until it is finished because primer
has adhesion properties that finish paint requires in order for the paint to adhere to the primer appropriately. Moreover, one does not want to repeat steps in the finishing process due to too long a wait time between primer and paint. In brief, mechanical work can always wait without causing problems, but welding, and primer/paint cannot wait to be completed because of drying time and adhesion. Further, when I start a job I always finish it on time. If I have no structured time frame to finish a job I will lose interest, and motivation to finish.
Bob
I have a friend who is doing a complete bare bones restoration on an earlier XKE coupe. The floors were completely rusty and had to be cut out. The killer was the rocker panels. He started probing around, and what looked solid was completely rusted. He had to build an X brace structure to place inside the car to hold the car aligned on the rotisserie while he replaced the rockers on both sides as well as the entire floor. If the floors are bad it’s almost a given the rockers will be bad. drill a hole and stick a probe camera inside the rocker panels. They probably will also be bad also. Remember they didn’t rustproof, paint or anything on enclosed areas. Same for the frame unit that holds the engine and bolts to the firewall. This is a customer’s car and he wanted it saved .
a car that has been left to the elements like this usually has all the peripherals gone also. He has 2000.00 dollars in restoring the gauges and the dash. How about a frozen windshield wiper motor. I could go on and on. this is the San Francisco Bay area and I’m sure it would be cheaper elsewhere, but after 2 years of physically doing the work, waiting for floor pans from England, backordered parts,frame work, complete engine rebuild, suspension, transmission, completely frozen differential rebuild, rebuilding everything and 2 years of work and delays. Remember, your time schedule gets affected by parts availability, schedules of suppliers and rebuild shops, backordered parts, locating things, deliveries and list of completely unexpected delays He’s at $80,000.00 with a perfect body with paint on it and all the mechanical parts. He has a garage full of perfect parts and all he has to do is assemble (still waiting for the corrected wiring harness to arrive) and then upholster with leather (estimates 8-10,000).
I’m just trying to wave anyone off from starting something like this and thinking you can sort of round off the corners like this was an old chevy. . These cars are difficult and present a whole different set of problems unique to this marque.
Ottawa CANADA, but it would take months to sell the car unless it was immediately auctioned on EBay. Frankly, the profit margin on the Jag is solid, and that’s why 35 people have bid on it so far. Anyone that knows anything would take a chance on this Jag because it is complete.
Bob
Too far for a partnership, dangit. Well, when the next ice age rolls in, and you migrate south, we’ll need to get together. Are those your cars in your posts? Very nice.
Not my cars, but if I win the lottery I will track them all down and buy them so they will be my cars. :)
Bob
P A R T S C A R
All these car tv shows are messing with people’s mind.
Any Jag connoisseur knows that the V12 is a very expensive pain.
@Ross W. Lovell:
Where can I find more information on the crank fire and Subaru coil packs for my V12 XJS?
Thank you.
Reg B.
One month? Impossible. My 67 E-type coupe, which was in about the same condition as this, took 7 years and that is with a pro doing the engine work. I couldn’t devote entire days to working on it. Assume the head isn’t frozen to the block as mine was, that would allow the engine rebuild to proceed. Otherwise you will have to find another engine. I soaked the head for a year in penetrant to try and salvage the original engine, but could not. From the visible rust on the rockers, inner and outer panels and reinforcements will be needed. They are structural as is the unseen front subframe, expecially the undersides of the box tubing. Floor pans have to be aligned precisely before being welded. Nearly all the tub is structural as the car is monococque. Everything has to line up perfectly for the body to work. Buyers need to get an idea of the parts they will need and evaluate return on investment if the car is going to be flipped.
Restoring this car will be an expensive undertaking as Jaguar parts are not cheap to purchase like Mustang or Chevy items. The restoration of the brakes alone could cost as much as a thousand dollars. When one starts cutting out old sheet metal where does one stop? These were beautiful cars but had serious quality control issues at the factory and were not reliable new. Parts are scarce and obtaining them would be very difficult for the inexperienced. Hopefully this car goes to a professional experienced shop and then to a very patient owner.
The V12 weighs close to 700 pounds. Also the front engine cradle, suspension support, bonnet support all bolt to a subframe which bolts to the body. I would tend to agree with a new tub, which is available in the UK. The bonnet will also have major rust, which all have, and will need replacing. Also available new in the UK. This is not an undertaking for the light hearted or inexperienced. I’ve owned 6 XJS’s. They are fickle little brats but I still enjoy them. My 07 XK is just like them with stupid little quirks that only a Jaguar could have. And my wife just had to have a new supercharged XF. It too is a fickle little car as well.