Barn finds are what it’s all about here. But what makes a barn find special is a case where before and after images exist. And that’s exactly what we have for your review today, a 1961 Jaguar Mark II that’s been idling away in the Peach State for more than 40 years. This Jaguar is located in St. Simons Island, Georgia and is available, here on BF Classifieds or here on eBay for $5,500.
Produced in Coventry, England between 1959 and 1967, Jaguar Mark II total sales reached about 83K units. Engine availability included 2.5, 3.4, and 3.8-liter in-line six-cylinder powerplants. This example appears to have a 220 HP, 3.8-liter motor. The seller states, “Motor been sitting for so long is stuck and will need to be gone t(h)rough“, so, unfortunately, it’s a non-runner. From an exterior perspective, it is a bit rough looking, primarily from surface scale. The yellow portion of the firewall is curious too. The mileage shows as 72K miles so it’s hard to tell if the engine will be salvageable, so yes, it will probably require dismantling. An automatic transmission is in place which research states is a Borg-Warner unit that was chosen in small volumes.
Once the 1973 vintage dust is removed, this Jag presents itself fairly well. There is some discoloration, surface rust, and maybe rust of a more determined nature in the bottom leg of the passenger fender and potentially in the rocker panel. The white finish is has become dull, as have the chrome bumpers, which are now silver flavored. The underside is heavy with undercoating and accumulated road/oil/grease dreck but it looks to be quite solid. All of the trim pieces appear to be present and accounted for.
The interior looks musty but the black upholstery, front and back, may require nothing more than a good cleaning. The instrument panel is discolored and the gauges could use some cosmetic refurbishment, but there are no missing instruments or switchgear. It seems that there was a dash pad in place at one time but that’s now gone. The stained headliner is mostly where it belongs but the portion covering the A and C pillars is starting to let go.
There is an old faded and tattered 1972 Georgia State Trooper inspection sticker on the windshield so it lends some credence to how long this Mark II has been slumbering. The good news is that this Jaguar appears to be complete and about as original as you will find. There is a walkaround video that you should review, it does this Jaguar considerably more justice than the still images do. Want to see more? This video shows you how this Jaguar looked once it was sprung but before it had its initial bath. This is a fine old British luxury car that needs to be saved. If vintage Jaguars are of interest to you, look this one over and give it your consideration. Please?
🙀 Dat precious dirt tho!
Back the f*** off detailers!!
Reminds me a lot of one a guy I was stationed with in the Army. I don’t know the details on it, but I do know he found it some place in the desert. It apparently sat outside for a while so the body and windows looked like they’d been sandblasted of pretty much everything. Glass was so bad it looked like frosted glass. I only saw it when he drug it back to the base, and IMO it looked complete but pretty sad.
I like the body lines on this one, but I’m less than a fan of the electrical issues I and others have had with British cars.
The yellow firewall area is the battery compartment. And the air cleaner assembly is missing (among other issues).
Put it back in hiding!
You know the song……”1 877..Cars For Kids”?…..pick up the phone….make the call !!
One word. MONEY
Looks like a $250,000+ restoration job to me LOL !! Just the thought of the electrical mess makes me shudder.
Far from “presents itself good!” Having sold parts for jags for years and worked on several I have seen parts cars look better than this. These are notorius for hidden rust and this could break the bank trying to do a retore and then leaving the owner buried alive way upside down!
The perfect car for a masochist. I drove an XK150 years ago which had a Borg Warner automatic – it was pitiful. A kid with a pedal car was quicker. That, the general condition of this car and the never ending nightmare of Lucas electrics ought to suffice to scare anyone off. Alas, there are those masochists——
I’m guessing there is humidity damage in every electrical circuit, switch, gauge, ad infinitum. Whoever owns the ‘g(ehr)raj’ where the video was taken has obviously decided they wont be restoring it on their dime.
That says something though it is a beautiful car.
I bought a ’63 E Type while stationed in Miami in ’69 for a thousand dollars. Ran like crap, but correcting 15 degrees out of time solved that. I concur on Lucas electrical systems. The idea of wiring wrapped in cloth for cars built in a wet climate seems klike just asking for trouble. I was enticed by toggle switches that were unbadged and three windshield wipers, but the wipers only worked when it wasn’t raining, and I never did find out for sure what two of the toggles actuated before I had a catastrophic breakdown of one of my cylinders causing irreparable damage to the crankshaft, and thereby the engine. In 1970 a 3.8 Ltr Jag engine had an asking price of $950 out of a junk yard, no guarantee. Had I known, at the time, that jags were an easy recipient to a small block chevy transplant I would have done it in a heartbeat, but that knowledge eluded me for another dozen years or so.
There was a time when someone would have wanted to restore this car. Heck, they might have put it on a ship bound back to its place of origin. Sadly, that time was almost twenty years ago.