If you are looking for a car that is a bit more light and agile than American muscle, but not land locked like the other European brands, than this British cat is the right car. Still riding on all fours, this 1961 Jaguar XK150 Drophead Coupe is currently housed by the Beverly Hills Car Club in Los Angeles, California. It is priced at $69,500, with the only option to make an offer. The listing is up on eBay.
There are a quite a few high resolution pictures of the engine. In the listing, it states the car has a 3.8 liter engine with a manual transmission. It also states that the engine has dual carburetors and the transmission has factory overdrive. The engine is a dual overhead cam straight six and he trim level is not listed. Production of these Jaguars ended in 1960 although they were still sold throughout 1961.
Inside it is pure, simplistic, and in decent condition. There looks to be a few components missing, like the shifter. The seats are a ripped in a few places, but the cabin seems clean otherwise. Considering that this car is a convertible, the interior is in great shape. It is said that the car has been sitting in a garage of a wealthy family who has owned the car for a long time and that the family lives in New Mexico.
More high resolution photos of all angles of the car are in the listing. Shots of the under carriage, in the trunk, and more of the interior and engine are all in the listing. The wire wheels need new white walls to go roam the alleys. If you are interested in getting your paws on this sophisticated feline by purchasing it, it might be nice to note that the car club claims to help with international buying and shipping.
ltitle to much Beverly hills for me . Maybe I can get one from theBronx cheaper 🤠
This will be nice ride for shows in the future 👍
Don’t worry, Beverly Hills Hair Club, er I mean Car Club is neither in Beverly Hills nor a club!!
IF its a true 3.8L XK150 and the motor is original to the car, its pretty rare. Most came with the 3.6L and supposedly only a couple of hundred vehicles (maybe less?) were fitted with the larger motor to vet the package for the upcoming XKE release. So a 3.8L is pretty near the top of the heap value wise for the XK series.
I don’t have a problem with BHCC like others do. They provide a good service for project cars that many people just don’t want but desire to sell. In my dealings with them (buyer and seller) I’ve found them to be very professional and very fair.
As for the car – project cars in this condition are hard to find nowadays. If one was looking for an xk150 it’d be hard to go wrong with this one. Especially provided the serial number on the block checks out and the price comes in a bit llower.
Maybe the 3.4, not a 3.6 in the line up at the time…..
There is one for sale on Hemmings for $115,000. This example cannot be made nice for $45,000. These cars are expensive to buy, and expensive to restore. I have been messing with them since the mid 1960’s
This car needs a lot of effort and money. New whitewall tires on 57 year old wire wheels? Sure, once they are rebuilt and powdered coated, or repalced with new repo wheels. You’re choice, hit the wallet.The list goes on.
So, yes the 3.8L adds more value than the 3.4L. However this is a regular 150, not the high performance 150S. The rarest 3.8 version is the 150S OTS 3.8.
There are many more 3.8’s in 150 coupes and drop heads (DHC’s), so some value add but not as big a bump in value as a true “S”.
My guess is that fully restored, to the right buyer this is a $100K – $125K car in 1- to 2+ condition. To get this one there would cost $50K -$75K minimum, likely more. Just looking at engine compartment, the rust scale is frightening (how do even gou get scale on aluminum valve covers??) and parts are missing. Everything will need to be rebuilt on this one. Just to give you perspective, fitting a new hood (translation: convertible top) will set you back $3k for a high end fitting. Not something for an amateur to attempt. Also, that paint looks strangely metalic. Closest standard color is Cotswald blue. Engine compartment is grey, more likely the original color.
I own a concours XK150S OTS and I am a concours judge, so I’m speaking from some level of experience.
IMHO, this is a $30K -$50K car, the higher number assuming no engine/clutch rebuild necessary. Please feel free to disagree!
I bought a 1958 150 drophead just like this one but in white w/red leather in about 1970 for $300 bucks “needing a clutch” but turned out it only needed a slave cylinder. I replaced the cylinder and drove it for three years – even used it to tow a heavy steel car trailer, – often fully loaded. Towed the trailer loaded with an enormous Horsch right across lower Manhatten through heavy mid-day traffic on a hot day in July. Towed the trailer (empty) at over 120MPH on Rt 95 in Connecticut side by side with a Maserati 3500GT. That Jaguar never overheated once and never let me down. Damn good car. I finally sold it for the same $300 bucks I paid for it to a “friend” who turned around and got $500 for it the next day, the lousy bast__d. I wouldn’t trade those memories for all the money in the world.
This looks to nice to be at BHCC. Urban legend says you will short the electrical system if you spit into the wind while driving a Jag drop top.
Don’t take a leak anywhere near that Jag.
There is a nice 1960 one for sale in Boynton Beach, FL for $220,000.
Yes, the engine will quit if it rains in the next county.
Lucas electrical system= Prince of darkness. Know why the Brits like their beer warm? Refrigerators are made by Lucas.
Judging from the position of the radial arm saw, the “rust” on the car and engine is really sawdust. How hard would it have been to throw a plastic drop cloth over the Jag?
Yeah but then it wouldn’t have as much “genuine barn find patina!!”
Got a feeling the guy listing this no nothing about Jags, for starters it really looks like a roadster and not a coupe and it probably would be more than $45,000 to put it back together, the guy needs to drop his price about $30,000.
Drophead coupe was a term used for a convertible top that remains in place but folds back and is visible when put down. Roadsters had a removable top and the top was not visible when down. Dropheads had wood dash accents while the roadsters were vinyl or leatherette. I guess they thought you could pull the top up faster in a drophead and protect the wood than erecting the whole top as in a roadster.
Britcarguy is correct. Here is more info. The biggest distinctions of a DHC vs. an OTS (open two seater) is that there is a mini-rear seat in the DHC, while the OTS has none. And as he details, the DHC stores the top above the rear line of the car, while the OTS top stores underneath the body line behind the front seats, so it has cleaner lines with the top down. The headliner on a DHC is also fancier. Many parts are not interchangeable between the two body styles. A hard removable top was an option on some Jaguar OTS models, not sure if one was available on the 150 OTS, or just after market versions made.
Roadsters don’t have windows but sidecurtains. The top on a roadster stores below the body line. Roadsters don’t have wood trim.
See all three versions of the XK120 and 140 for examples.
The roadster version of the 150 is very rare, don’t know if they made one in an S version?
How times (and prices) have changed. My first car was an XK-150 roadster. I bought it for $400 in 1972. No rust, but needed paint. The engine was tired and the clutch slipped. I prepped the car myself, had it sprayed for $180. Motor overhaul parts and a clutch kit cost $225 ( I had a friend that worked at BAP Geon). $75 for a set of good used tired. And I was stylin’, well, for a 19 year old on a limited budget I was stylin’. But god it was fun. I traded it for a Porsche 356 super 90 worth about $2400. That was even more fun. Sorry to reminisce but I just can’t get over how things have changed. The $400 project car becomes a $69500 project car. And the latter won’t get refurbished by an 18 year old kid with help and guidance from a dad that did all of his own car maintenance. Those were sweet times.
What is the going price of a kidney these days?
I agree with both John and Chinga. The acquisition price is high but the car is worth restoring or even being made into a driver for frequent use or going the whole way for show. And BHCC is not a Club and it’s not in Beverly Hills. But they are good to deal with. I’ve never had any problems with them either.
Looks like someone was going to replace the clutch..
I am so happy that I got to buy, restore and drive some of the greatest cars of today. AND they did not break the bank.. Here’s one that I sold when someone offered me a load of money for… Got 20K and I doubled my money..Wow, what great memories..
Serial number, picture of the data plate and engine stamps would be so helpful. They are on the car and they have a high resolution camera. Then it is just a matter of checking with the registry to know what the car came with.
In 1968, single, good job, cheap rent, I bought a ’60 XK 150S, with big engine, chrome wire wheels, even the spare, aluminum hood and trunk, fixed head coupe, originally dark blue, repainted for the woman who owned it a metallic pink/purple, for $300 ($3000 in today’s dollars), it was, until my Audi 3.0 Turbo, the fastest car I ever owned, including a ’68 Chevelle with a 327 and 4 barrel, ’67 Pontiac with 400 cu in, and about 20 lesser cars. New England, no garage for it (my ’39 MG drophead got the garage), tin worm was active, on the fenders and frame, and then, it would not start, no one could fix it, turned over like a champ, and, in the process of sitting around, it got a flat tire, and the wheel would not come off. Half assed mechanic (but what did I know) took a torch to it to try to heat it, so it would come off, and it did, but discolored the chrome and warped the wheel, luckily the spare was a chrome wire wheel. Then marriage, a kid, a mortgage, a more demanding job time wise, and I sold it for what I paid for it and threw in the ’39 MG (which was so bastardized it had little value – Hudson engine and overdrive transmission, non matching front fenders, one homemade rear fender and panel below the boot, upholstery there, but shot, Buick headlights, Ford pickup truck tail lights, White Truck starter and generator, etc. etc.). OH but that Jag was fun to drive.