Long time Barn Finds readers will know I have a very soft spot in my heart for 1960’s Jaguar S-Types; I grew up in my Dad’s and loved it very much. This one, like most inexpensive Jaguars, could be either a wonderful project or a nightmare. It’s available here on eBay with an opening bid of only $250 and no reserve, so it’s certainly going to sell and quite possibly for a reasonable figure. The car can be found in Long Lake, Minnesota, and it’s probably a good thing that is no closer than 1,207 miles from my house.
A right hand drive car imported from the UK by a service person, we’re told the car needs fresh gas, a starter rebuild and a brake line. Considering it was last driven 14 years ago, I reckon I’d be checking out a little more than that before driving it, but that is an encouragingly short list. For those of you hoping for a manual, I should tell you that it is an automatic, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for this large sedan.
What’s that on top? It looks like a full length Webasto-type sunroof! As far as I can tell from this article, while never fitted from the factory, the Webasto sunroof was a common fitment for those S-Type owners that wanted some fresh air.
The steering wheel looks like a combination of the factory horn push with a MotoLita wooden rim wheel; I rather like it. Unfortunately, we can see the effects of what I’m guessing is water ingress on the right hand side of the dash, and that will neither be easy (if you do it yourself) or inexpensive (if you have it professionally done) to repair. One of the major expenses with a car like this is the interior, and you can easily spend $10,000 on a professional job if you are doing it all. Even kits will run into many thousands of dollars. Of course, if you are willing to refurbish what you can and selectively repair the rest, who knows what you could do it for. But that would take a real enthusiast.
The 3.8 liter XK engine looks very stock, and even retains the “silencer” air intake that’s usually gone long before now. So what do you think? What would the final price have to be for it to be a bargain?
Up to all of $320, and no one here is interested enough to comment?
Not so much “uninterested,” Jamie, as quietly regretting I haven’t got the time, energy and resources to take on a project like this.
When I was younger and more ambitious, I would have loved to scoop up a find like this. I worked on worse cars — in terms of both condition and desirability — but nowadays would prefer something that would take only months to bring back to presentable shape.
Of course, when I was even younger, I would have really enjoyed driving around in a Roach Motel-condition car. In fact, I did! Today, I like ’em shiny.
Here’s hoping someone with more money (and taste) than sense grabs it. It’s not an Investment, for sure, but it’s a heckuva car!
These are very stately/distinctive sedans.
I guess you have the wiring and engine issues as with any other Jag.
How about a GM 3800 transplant with front wheel drive for those of you who are mechanically inclined?
Sorry in advance for the sacrilege.
The engine compartment looks so small despite the long hood.
The XK engine isn’t exactly tiny!
Despite what the writeup here says and what one might guess from photos, an S-type isn’t really a “large sedan”. It’s basically a Jaguar Mark 2 with IRS and a longer trunk, among other largely cosmetic detail changes, but still slightly shorter (albeit taller) than the original XJ6, which itself was designed to split the difference between the decidedly compact Mark 2 and the very large Mark X/420G, as a replacement for both.
As cool as these cars are……….they are terrifying to an amateur and too labor intensive for an experianced restorer. That is a one two punch that keeps the value low.
A barn find Jaguar is no bargain – just giving it the paint and interior it deserves will crush your soul and wallet, and that’s before any mechanical work. Buy the best running example you can afford, and still brace yourself for heartbreak and Kraft Mac and Cheese dinners for years to come.
So eloquently put.
I am just wondering about the missing “underneath” shots….
is that because there is nothing there ??
All that time and money and you have to drive around steering from the passenger side. What else ya got?
So glad this car is too far away or I would be in deep trouble wondering what have I done.
thankfully its in Minnesota or I’d be all over this. I’d even sell my Europa projects just to bring it home and give it TLC. Restore it?…nah… drive the crap outta it?… oh yeah. Many moons ago I had 59 3.4 w/OD and wires in the same color combo. Really cool car..no really…the floor was Swiss cheese and it kept it real cool…
I’m thinking avoid the expensive resto, just clean it up and get the mechanicals up to snuff. Enjoy the car while the patina craze is still “in” and then restore it later or pass it on to someone else.
The steering wheel is on the wrong side. With high restored costs, it’s not surprising it gets such low offers. Send it back to England.
“The car can be found in Long Lake, MN”.
Under how much water? How old are the photos before it was in the drink?
Joe, that’s the name of the town…
I had one in my senior year of highschool.
The car was given to me by a friend of my
Dad’s that owned a used car lot and wanted it gone. Other than the damage in the engine compartment due to an engine fire, the rest of the car was in pristine condition and complete down
to the picnic basket in the trunk which had all its china and flatware intact.
It was, to say the least, a very unique
project that took six months to complete.
After talking to my principal at school, (he
had an XK120 coupe that he was restoring at that time) and when he showed me the parts book he had, and just how much it would cost to restore that car. That did it for me! 350 Chevy
and Turbo 350 tranny coming up! I went
went down to the bookstore and bought
a copy of Hot Rod Magazine that showed
the staff installing a Chevy V8 into an XKE coupe, and just followed the instructions. I used the articles they published to get my car back on the road
again. The only real issue we ran into was how to mate the Jaguar steering to
the GM power steering unit that came with the engine and tranny I bought at
a wrecking yard. We pulled off the front
sheet metal to make the engine swap
easier to do. We used the motor mounts
From the 350 along with the tranny mount as well. A friend of my Dad’s made the new fender wells to accomodate the Chevy V8 and all that went with it. Several friends of ours
helped us rewire the car with a universal
wiring harness from J.C.Whitney. Looking back on it now, that winter time
project broke the bank, and I have since told myself that I will NEVER tackle a project like that again. We finally got the car on the road in March of ’73. Because of a sight impairment, I was never able to drive the car. But those who did told me
that I did everything right and the Jag was a joy to drive. I wound up selling it a year later to a local doctor for $3,500.00.
Not a bad payday for six month’s work.