2 1/2 Litre DHC at Gooding & co

Hi,

Anybody know this car?

http://www.ssjaguardata.com/gallery/zoom/?id=445101

I think it should have the wide chrome trim on the sides (isn’t that the narrow post-war trim it has now?) and of course the wheels were not chrome plated in 1939, but I guess that can not be helped much nowadays.

BTW I think I did see pre-war SS Jaguar wheels for sale at Padua earlier this year, but I was unsure of what they were and I did not have an easy way of taking them home either. I can perhaps post a few pics later, once I get the hang of this new forum software…(1st post!)

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 647194
Fin.

The color is stated as being Gunmetal.
Any opinions as to the accuracy of the color?
Goodings has apparently only published the one picture.

BTW I see Goodings is also auctioning the Dave Garroway SS100 39067.

Greetings All,

Not sure if it’s been accurately established whether there were metallicized paints for this year, I thought they were introduced on the around the time of the MKVIII. Have seen aurhentic examples from this era, and they are pretty unstable. This car with this paint surprises me, but I could be wrong.

The Dave Garroway car, saw this years ago. Was quite the spectacle at Watkins Glen.

I know it went to the U.K. for restoration. Wondering if they restored it to factory specs as Mr. Garroway had replaced the failed original engine with an XK variant. The car had a lot of personalization, whether or not that has any historical value or interest will be anyone’s guess?

Gunmetal was a colour listed for 1938/39 cars.

See: http://www.jag-lovers.org/brochures/ss_colour_39.html

I think the chrome trims are the correct width Pekka.

Peter

Thanks Peter. It appears to me that Gunmetal was the only metallic color in that brochure? They seem to have added bronze, silver, pastel green and pastel blue metallics in the 1948-9 brochure. Twilight blue metallic was added about 1951. You are right that the metallics of those days were poor and many cars had to be repainted. Metallic colors continued to mid '52, when they changed paint type. Then for a few years it was non-metallics only.

See also 1937-8 SS-Jaguar Colour Chart as per picture below:-
No metallic in 1937-8, so would seem GUNMETAL was introduced for 1938-9 and thus also 1940, with no other metallic offered as standard, until post-war.

SS100 #18004 m made in late 1935 was painted ’ steel grey’ which was a metallic grey with a slight hint of bue. A very attractive colour , Fortunately SS100 s were painted with the dash overlay off and that painted separately, so the original pain was still on the wooden frame under the alloy. and was definitely metallic.

The colour looks pretty right for gunmetal. Itis hard to be adamant as one is relying on a photo which may have been enhanced of a car which has been paintedof neccessity in different types of paint available today
By co-incidence a tired set of SS DHC chrome trims arrived yesterday from germany . I have to get a set NC milled from brass to replace them . We’ve done it before with SS , but that was for a saloon . Same principle though

The pic here is what we ended up with matching gunmetal.

Hi all,

Yes, I don’t think any other metallic paint was offered on the SS Jaguars until 1949 when the Pastel Blue and Pastel Green appeared as well as Silver and Bronze for XK’s.

But already in 1932 a few SS1’s and possibly SS2’s (as per Allan Crouch’s book) were painter with metallic “SIlver” which can also be seen offered as extra in the 1933 brochure for SS Cars. And some special orders and experimentation was made as Ed has earlier described with the “Steel Grey” and one “Gold” SS100 that went to Singapore IIRC.

The same thing with the XK’s as I could imgine with the earlier SS100 sports cars, that different colours were available for the more flashy and smaller volume production.

The appearance of the old cellulose based metallic paints in almost next to impossible to match, some “micatellic” (as used on XJ40’s) or other non-solid paints might be close.

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 647194
Fin.

Hi,

For instance, here’s the 1934 brochure page also found here on J-L, that shows the “Silver” as the last combination with Blue trim & wings at a whopping £5 GBP (in those days I think the whole car cost less than £400 GBP) extra charge.

Thanks all for your comments.
The reason I ask about Gunmetal is that the small amount of original Gunmetal paint remaining on my Mark V has a slight hint of green, not blue.
My paint supply shop mixed me up 2 gallons based on this sample, at $600. I want to be sure it is right before proceeding too far.

Very interesting seeing the colour listings.
Does anyone have the colour brochure that covers the 1940 model saloons?
I am particularly looking for the trim colours for that year which appears to be different than Peters 38/39 cars.
Regards, Jordy.

In original brochure from 1939 that I have, You can clearly see Gunmetal as a one of the coachwork color schemes:

I also have original poster from 1939, on which DHC’s color is like gunmetal:

I know the car (46268) well. It was owned by Al Buschorn who lived in Marble Falls.Texas, near Austin, for many years, and it consistently scored 100 points in JCNA concours. It was restored by Jeff Snyder, also near Austin, and is, IMHO, the best restored SS-Jag DHC in the world. There are some minor nits (e.g., the dash wood is too dark and burled rather than straight grain) but overall it is spectacular. Al recently passed away and his son decided to sell the car at the Goodling auction in Scottsdale in January… I visited the car a couple of weeks ago, at Jeff’s shop (“Jeff’s Resurrections”) and took photos.

As to the color, it looks very close to the color of the saloon that Ed did a couple of years ago.

Ron

Here’s a photo.
Ron

Hi Peter,

Thanks, yes. Now I wonder where I got that idea from or was the post-war “MKIV” Saloon and DHC trim really narrower, or Saloon only???

The dash and the chrome wheels is a pretty common thing, unavoidable I guess for most enthusiasts, except some of us die hard purists! :smiley:

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 647194
Fin.

Pekka, on 46268, the wheels are body color, not chrome.
Ron

Hi Pekka,

Further to Ron’s comment the wheels also have the correct bell profile of the hubs. The MkIVs have a slightly more “curly” bell profile.

The post 1939 cars do have a narrower waist level chrome and it also has a three sided profile whereas the '38 and '39 cars have essentially flat profile with a small chamfer. The width difference is most noticeable at the rear ends. (Ignore the little serrated brass strip. I took my photos from here:
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk/New%20page%2016.htm and they are combined.)

The MkIV photos are not very clear but I think you can see the three sided profile near the B post.

Peter



It is more possible that this DHC looks like this:

Here’s another photo from 2011.
Ron

It’s a very good restoration , although, that being said we don’t get pics of under the bonnet.
The wood finish varied a lot and although none was burr walnut I have seen originals with reasonably figured grain , and some with virtually no grain.
Probably the only faults I’d pick would be the chrome bodies on the bonnet catches and the gear box cover shape…

But if they all were done as well as that it would be great.

At I think the same auction , there is also an SS100, complete with unfortunate modifications by a previous owner.
Starting at an alligator skin covered steering wheel and spiralling down from there.