There was so much activity on this Jaguar that is sold quickly and effortlessly. I wish all deals were as seamless as this one. I like selling cars that are under no assumption of being operable, there aren’t any expectations of grandeur, it’s just an unemotional exchange of a commodity.

Transporting Jaguar XKE

Under the front engine area

Floors from an XKE Roadster

Drivers door bottom, solid

It looks very good to me, solid and straight. There is more “top rot” on the car than deterioration on the undercarriage.

About 5 years ago I took a photo of this car after it showed up unexpectedly from Louisiana. Out of sight, out of mind the adage goes, we put it on the back corner of one of the buildings and after asking the owner what he wants to do with this XKE, he informed me that he wants to sell it. Does anyone out there want this thing or is Gullwing Motorcars going to pick it up! Later this week I’ll get it up on the lift and check out the car but I think its solid and complete except for the soft top frame. Even though the owner had the brake system gone through awhile ago, there isn’t a firm pedal and the clutch doesn’t work but I pulled it around the shop in gear and the engine turns and we should be able to do a accurate compression test.

Once was ivory, now is red, a solid XKE

Series II 4.2 liter Jaguar E-Type engine

We used to send these Overdrive Units off to a specialist to be rebuilt but something always went wrong on the first test drive. Come to think of it, sometimes they were leaking so badly that we had to take them apart and re-seal them before knuckle busting installation into the chassis.  Considering all the time to properly package the part, the cost to ship the 40lb crate as well as the weeks it takes to get it back, Nate decided to overhaul this Austin Healey 3000 Laycock deNormanville unit on his own. All the parts are available so once they arrive, he’ll slam it back together and test it by spinning it up on the lathe so he can be confident things are right before the installation.

Moss Gearbox

Overdrive Repair and rebuild

Steve Maxwell “Max” works in the “second building” next door to our main shop and makes spectacular parts out of Carbon Fiber, Kevlar and other composite materials. This is a complete front clip to a Triumph Spitfire, one of many body panels he’s made molds for. He makes tons of body panels for Datsun 510 Race Cars as well as Formula Ford’s, Hyundai and Subaru  Rally Cars and the occasional Classic Italian parts for me. I’m always blown away with the quality of work that Max churns out and amazed at his attention to detail to make the parts very rugged while staying extremely light weight.

Later this week I’m going to show you photos of brake cooling ducts that he makes for a major Catalog that sells race car parts so stay posted for these incredibly light weight and rigid examples of “black art”.

Body parts for Triumph Carbon Fiber

We did tons of work on this 1956 Jaguar XK-140 this summer, between waiting for parts and correcting some stubborn little details and then cleaning it all up, we spent some hours on this beauty. Now that Mike has his car back, he has been driving all over the place including to and from work, a 50 mile drive one way!

Jaguar XK-140 DHC

The 4 cylinder Ferrari Monza engine came back from England last week so in order to create some space, Casey took it out of the crate and threw the engine in the chassis. The shop who overhauled the  engine is a specialist on the 4 cylinder Ferrari engines and has made this a turn key, dyno tested unit for us to bolt in.

Nate is installing new brake components on the XKE after having the calipers overhauled and other things like cooling fan motors and a inoperative coolant temperature gauge. We have been so busy with Jaguars and brakes lately, new cylinders in two XK-140′s and all new brake parts on this XKE.

Shop images of the Monza and XKE

XK-D Jaguar

Here’s Peter bring the XKD to the false grid at Lime Rock over Labor Day weekend. The car is to die for, broke a starter motor pinion gear over the weekend but performed nicely otherwise. Has anyone heard of a fuel filter with a red foam element? Something is getting into the fuel system and plugging the idle jets and I think it’s the fuel cell bladder but it is rumored that it doesn’t have that type of cell…

Maybe we should narrow our focus on a specific brand of car but at the end of the day, we have relationships with people and our customers like a bunch of different types of cars so we end up working on all kinds of stuff. It’s amazing how great American cars are, they can sit around for years with the battery connected and start and drive without drama, USA, USA!

The driveshaft U-Joints in the green 1949 Ford Pick-up were totally blown out but the truck still drove beautifully and was quite smooth. With ignition advance stuck, a carburetor with a plugged passage and brakes sticking, a quick test drive relieved all of these ailments on the ’48 Chevy Woodie Wagon. If this were a Ferrari with any of these issues it would be sidelined!  Once we get some time, the pedal car in front of the woodie wagon needs a valve job.

Ford and Jags with a 1948 Chevy Woodie