The latest chapter in the “darnit, another old British car Jamie would love to own but can’t buy right now” book has been written by this 1950 Jaguar Mark V., located less than 100 miles away from me in a shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It’s listed for sale here on craigslist and is priced at $6,500. Even with the surface rust and dust you can see the beautiful William Lyons-penned lines of this car.
The Mark V was introduced in 1949 as “A Brilliant New Jaguar” and “The Finest Car of it’s Class in the World.” I love the hyperbole in vintage advertising! The seller tells us that there is no major rust in the car and that the floors and frame are “good.” It certainly looks solid and may even be in it’s original paint. It also appears that all major trim components are there.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the factory tool kit. If you decide to replace the original tools with original tools, this will get expensive. On the other hand, I’ll bet you could replace them with modern equivalents on a budget and not have to worry about damaging them.
Here’s where restoring a car like this gets very expensive — the interior. Basically, if you aren’t willing to try to restore the wood yourself the cost will quickly put you upside down. Same with the interior. I realize this will curdle the milk of some aficionados but perhaps fabric or vinyl would be possible, fabric especially if you want to drive the car on hot days.
Although there are no pictures of it, the car is still equipped with the 3.5 liter (the “large” engine) that it left the factory with. Trivia time: anyone else know that Jaguar purchased the rights to that engine (and it’s smaller 2.5 liter sibling) from Standard Motor Company, the eventual owners of Triumph? Would you consider it a triumph to return home with this Jaguar in tow like I would? Let us know in the comments below.
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