I was going to send mine to M and P refinishing in Jeanetter, PA who had done a number of things for me but there is no answer on their phone? Does anyone know if they retired?
As a followup to post number 35, Day of Delivery, September 1961, Dave the original owner called me back. All these years later he remembers that his knockoffs were painted. He remembers because he said he had to retouch them several times to keep them looking nice.
I wrote the article about this car, linked below. He told me today he bought it from a dealer in New Haven, CT who got an alotment of exactly one Etype, which he sold to Dave due mainly to his well connected father. He does not believe that dealership ever received another Etype to sell. He said he would be shocked if that dealer did any mods to the car (such as painting the knockoffs in house), as it seemed to be a one shot deal for them.
WoW – what are the odds of a call-back after all these years.
I would head down to pay a Lottery Ticket most ricky-tick
How about we settle this?
If you like them painted, paint them. If you don’t like them painted, don’t paint them. Seems simple to me, no? 
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Craig, he is local and although we don’t communicate on a regular basis, I was not surprised at the call-back.
Companies where I’ve worked would routinely apply special cosmetic detail to a car designated for brochure or other photographic purposes. I’d be surprised if Jaguar was different in that respect.
A similar story for mechanical “adjustments” to Press and PR cars, of course.
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Harvey for what it’s worth I did a bunch of research on this and came away believing that the early cars did not have the paint. Likely similar to what you have done. On my 1962 I have spinners with no paint though they were refinished that way by the person I bought them from. However, my dad’s 1966 2+2 has the original spinners and there is no paint.
Just another data point……plus I think no paint looks better!
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That sure looks like lots of miles! 
About 160,000 of them! 
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Hmmm, I wonder what JCNA might have to say on the subject of painted knock-offs? Well, since you’ve asked, JCNA does actually have a bit to say about it in their E-Type Judge’s Guides - or at least as it pertains to North American market cars. In checking through the Judge’s Guides for Series 1, 1968 Model Year (Series 1.5), Series 2 and Series 3 models they do reference JAGUAR lettering with black paint in the indents - this is indicated for all models except the Series 1 cars.
So, from this we do know that Jaguar did specify painted knock-offs for 1968 & later models; and that JCNA would not have determined that specification without confirmation by way of an official Jaguar document such as a Technical Service Bulletin, Spare Parts Cataloq or other factory documentation. Accordingly, I would think it would be fair to say that JCNA found no factory record or documentation to support painted JAGUAR lettering on the Series 1 cars otherwise it would be referenced in the Series 1 Judge’s Guide and it clearly is not.
Note: I did not use the actual JCNA quotes from their Judge’s Guides due to it being copyrighted material - I’ve been warned about that previously.
And so the mystery for the early cars continues? FYI, factory correct or otherwise, I painted the lettering on my knock-offs a few years ago after they were expertly refinished … and I must say they do look brilliant! 
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I painted all the markings on mine and later removed the paint from everything but the word “Jaguar”. With all markings painted they looked too busy.
Hi Gary,
I did look at the Judges Guide for Series 1 cars and as you have noted, it says nothing one way or the other about lettering. Good for you to go the extra step and look at the later guides. I’d say from a pure JCNA concours judging perspective, there is no standard for the lettering and thus no possible deduction for black lettering or lack thereoff.
If Norman Dewis was alive, we could ask him!
It was clearly a hot topic, he would surely remember!
With 38,412 S1 cars produced it would mean 153,648 hub caps would have to be painted, a not insignificant amount of work!
In 1967 Albion Drop Forging Co of Foleshill, Coventry stopped forging and the work was moved to J. Brockhouse & Co at West Bromwich. This coincides with the fitting of inked Jaguar logo hub caps from 1968 onwards so perhaps they had the facilities to chrome and paint them before dispatching to Browns Lane?
David
This, and so many more of your posts are what keep me hanging around here! I learn something new about these beasts every single day…
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Here’s my submission to the “discussion.” 1966 Coupe S1 owned by 2nd owner for 30 years. I believe these are original hubs, I have the original, unrestored (not so great looking) wheels with very old red line tires up in storage. These are the original hubs on new Dayton wires.
First pictures, before rechroming. Then after.
Cost to rechrome, $75/each + some shipping in May 2022
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It’s beginning to look like there is no wrong answer
You got it wrong again Harvey 
There’s no right answer
Keep up the great work, Alan
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