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Major Challenge: 1959 Jaguar XK150

frightpig

This is one sad looking Jaguar! I have fellow staff writer Jeff L. to thank for calling my attention to this car that has definitely seen better days. It’s up for sale here on eBay and is located in Hanover, Massachusetts. Current bidding is at just below $5,000, with an optimistic buy-it-now of $29,500(!) Where to begin? The seller notes that “…there are a few things missing, i.e. the soft top frame, the bottom of the seats, the spare, the jack, the tools and some other parts.”  Uh… yeah. About those other parts! There’s also no mention of the creative alignment of the body and although a 3.4 liter engine is mentioned, there are no information on whether it turns freely or not. 

frightpig2

Something’s not quite straight here! It’s also interesting that it has New Jersey plates but a California title. There’s probably a good explanation for that… Don’t get me wrong, I like XK150’s, but this one’s just a little too far gone for me. How about you?

Comments

  1. Avatar Matt Tritt

    fubar!

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  2. Avatar Cassidy

    No mention of who won the fight? Was it the Hulk? Poor car never stood a chance, enough wrong with it and the write-up! Yet another seller shooting for the moon with a missile that is actually a dud. Good luck on that BIN!

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  3. Avatar francisco

    Is there no end to this? There are so many affordable, restorable classics out there. Why mess around with junk?

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  4. Avatar Tom Stewart

    This looks like a left over part cars.

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  5. Avatar Barry T

    This poor battered mess of a car should just be put out of its misery.

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  6. Avatar jim s

    it would be nice to see it saved, but their pricing on condition and mine are a bit different.

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  7. Avatar JW454

    Here you go fellas. Here’s your chance to spend 200K to restore a car that will be worth about half that when completed.

    Like 0
  8. Avatar Jack T

    Your car is ready, Mr. Dangerfield..

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  9. Avatar John H.

    Looking at the pictures on EBay it appears this car has already been stripped of many major parts (the boxes couldn’t possibly hold all of them). As the owner of a concours XK150S OTS I can tell you that parts for these cars are very expensive and some are quite difficult to source. This is not an OTS (Open Two Seater), it is the less desirable drop head coupe (note the small rusted out rear seat. In this condition, if the car were complete to the last nut, bolt and Cheney hose clamp it might be worth in the upper $20’s (if there is any frame left), but based on the pictures, at ~$5K it is already nearly bid up to salvage value. In perfect concours restored and judged condition this would be at the very best a $100K car as it is a drophead and a 150 versus a 150S (high performance version, and direct predecessor to the XKE Type Series 1). What am I missing???

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  10. Avatar Matt Tritt

    Rodney Dangerfields car park ticket.

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  11. Avatar Ross W. Lovell

    Greetings All,

    John H, it has to be you……………………..
    When you say OTS/Open Top Sportscar you realize that Jaguar made a Roadster version of the 150 that had no roll-up windows and was basically like an early 120.

    Jaguar Magazine featured an original example of the windowless cars several years back and the Jaguar Archive confirmed that they were indeed built in very limited numbers for some of the more well-heeled customers that some dealers saw regularly.

    I thought the DHC/Drop Head Coupe designation ceased with the XK140. DHC’s had wood dash and door trim and a top evelope that remained above body when collapsed whereas the Roadsters were only available with side curtains, no rollups and a plain dash with no internal wood trim because of the open weather nature of the car.

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  12. Avatar John Elmgreen

    The chassis number quoted is for an XK150 roadster, which BTW did have wind up windows. However the rear body section looks like a drophead coupe and the doors look like they are for a DHC not a roadster. The engine is also from a DHC. The OTS chassis number quoted also had an auto gearbox, but a manual gearbox can be seen here (many autos have of course been changed). A mystery … tempting to say there is no XK that is too bad to restore, but this just might be the one …

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  13. Avatar John H

    Ross, the configuration you refer to was an extremely rare special order, and not part of the standard XK-150 line up. The Xk150 model cars came in three standard configurations: Open Two Seater (OTS), Drop Head Coupe (DHC) and Fixed Head Coupe (FHC). The chassis numbers are six digits, with the first three designating which type it is and whether it is LH or RH driver. DHCs are designated either 827xxx(rhd) or 837xxx(lhd). Correspondingly the OTS is 820xxx or 831xxx, and for the FHC 824xxxs or 835xxx. Of the total XK150 production of 9,398 cars (some sources say 9,395), 2,682 were DHCs, so they are not rare at all. If you want to see one, simply put XK150 DHC into a search engine under images. DHC’s are distinguished by the small rear seat, and when the convertible top (hood) is down, it rests above the trunk line, versus being flush and hidden in the OTS.

    Like 0

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