Decals and Jack

XK
1

I am trying to fit my 1953 XK120 DHC (Racing Green), that I recently bought,with all the necessary decals that were original to the car. Can someone tell me where the Lukas wiring decal goes; where the windshield decal goes and where any other decals go in the engine bay?

While we are at it can someone tell me if the jack on this car should be red. I have seen several jacks in these cars and they always seem to be red. Should I paint my jack red and would this be something that would take off points at a Concours?

many thanks,

mago

2

Michael,

See attached photographs of an original 1953 XK120 Jack, still showing most of its original red paint, if not in Concours ‘as-new’ condition.

2-JackB1.jpg1944×2896 1.98 MB

In the collapsed position as shown, it is spray-painted re ‘all-over’ and in a self-priming thin red-paint, and not layers of primer and thick/excessive modern enamels as some people like to do. The exceptions are the blanking plug at the top of the tube, and the attached drive-nut are unpainted, and should have a black-oxide chemical blackening treatment, as per this second photo. Note, the top of the tube above the swaged-indent is painted-red, just a bit age-worn in photo.

4-SMITHS1.jpg2592×3872 2.39 MB

The bottom cast-foot is painted red on both the top surface and the underside surface, but the attached inner tube is unpainted natural steel - hidden of course with jack closed -, but is best cleaned to bare-metal and coated with a dry-lubricant/anti-seize, like MOLYBOND - which is a nice black grease type finish that will keep jack functional whilst looking ‘as-new’

Roger

3

If it was UK delivery it would have a Raydyot Tax disc holder on the windscreen
For your year they had an enamel Jaguar badge in the centre. You can get repro tax discs for your car with original rego number m date and Post Office date stamp of issue for your particular car .
These go back with different badges , Swallow SS hex , SS winged , Jaguar since the Swallow days .
In the case of my car he said “who delivered it ?” ." Henlys "
“They always taxed their cars at Mayfair” , And that was was what came on the repro tax disc , Nice.

4

Dear Ed,

Many thanks for your answer to my question. Since my car was an export XK
I don’t think it would be correct to put on a UK tax disc on the windshield.

best driving this spring . . .

mike rosen

5

Dear Roger,

Many thanks for your rapid response. My jack is black so I think I’ll
paint it a red color that isn’t too flashy. I’ll follow your advice when I
do paint it and not paint the blanking plug.

Great to have such knowledgeable folks to turn to on the Forum.

all the best,

mike
1953 XK120 DCH (BRGreen)

6

Here is a link to a discussion we had back in 2008 about the jack paint color.

I had a paint shop mix up a match for mine exactly. In bright sunlight it looks almost orange, and in a dark garage you would say it is red. Later as I recall we found a Chevy engine paint was pretty close.

7

Thanks for the quick reply Rob. I looked carefully at my jack and noticed that it had not been painted over. It is black and has few places where the paint has chipped off which indicates to me that it had not been painted so I’m going to leave it as is. I might paint it after a judge at a Concour takes of a few points but it seems more authentic as is.

mike

8

A black painted jack is more likely to date from after Nov 1959 and thus the XK150 era. There may be a date stamped on the bottom of the foot.

9

Now that you’ve made a substantial outlay to own an XK120, you really need to invest in a few books on the subject. Urs Schmid spent decades researching and documenting the XK120, and his Anatomy of a Cult Object, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 are “must have” books for anyone concerned with originality or Concours judging.

Similarly, Roger Payne has spent decades researching, documenting, and publishing about Jaguar tools (and other Jaguar topics). What is accurate and true with regards to original XK120 tools can be found in Chapter 19 of Philip Porter’s Original Jaguar XK, Revised Third Edition, 2012. Any serious Concours Judge would likely defer to Roger’s extensive documentation in this book.

Bernard Viart’s Jaguar XK120 Explored is a thick book containing hundreds of detailed drawings showing how the XK120 was put together. There are some errors, but I consider it a must have book to complement the Jaguar XK120/Mark VII Service Manual and the XK120 Spare Parts Catalogue published by the factory. These three books together will help you repair and service your XK120 using correct parts and methods.

These are expensive books to own, but they will quickly pay for themselves by avoiding incorrect parts purchases, poor service work, and by giving you confidence to service and improve your XK120 yourself.

10

Rob I am sure you are right but do you have a break on orange to black or a source? Thanks

11

George, the reference to black jacks is Porter’s Original XK 2nd edition page 82.
Roger may have some additional comments.
Michael, if you are interested in pursuing this farther, you could post a picture of your jack here.
This forum is dedicated to accurate information.

Here is my 1949 Stevenson jack for my Mark V in sunlight.

C2953 jack.jpg2048×1536 473 KB

And here it is under garage lights.

Early 120 used the same jack. My 51 120 has the same jack but with the swaged top as in Roger’s picture and the name Smiths on the foot.

I have not been able to do anything on the Mark V since early November as my wife had a medical problem and I have had to stay near.

12

My original reply to Michael, was in response to his request re his 1953 XK120 DHC Jack - thus I posted a picture of a 100% original 1953 XK120 Jack still showing most of its original RED paint.
If he has a Jack that he believes was originally BLACK, then if he cares about being concours correct, he has two problems - the Jack is not the correct Jack for his XK120, and of course its the wrong colour anyway.

As Rob has advised - only the very latest 1960 XK150 Jacks were ever painted BLACK, and indeed apart from being Black were a different part number C.16392, being functionally different from the XK120 Jack part number C.2953.
But please note, this change in C.16392 Part Number is because the collapsed-height and the reach of the Jack was greater than the C.2953, and not because of the change in colour that does not affect functionality (by itself), indeed the first C.16392 Jacks on introduction December 1959 (Chassis Numbers given) was still painted RED.

I have fully detailed some SEVEN different Jacks covering the 1949 to 1960 XK120, 140, 150 period in Chapter 19 of Philip Porters REVISED 3rd Edition of ORIGINAL JAGUAR XK book - along with all the components in an XK Tool-Kit, but am happy to answer any specific questions/inquiries on this site, but if a lot of questions best to email be direct.

In the mean time, please see attached picture of a 1960 XK150 BLACK JACK, and a close up of its very rarely surviving PRIMA sticker - the new manufacturer of these black jacks, no longer SMITHS who made the XK120 Jacks.

But back to Michaels specific request re a Jack for his 1953 XK120, best to post a photo, so we can see exactly what he has got - maybe a correct Jack just not painted correct colour, or maybe not a correct XK120 Jack at all.

Roger

13

Roger,

Thanks for your detailed response to my query about the jack for my 53DCH.
Here are two photos and as per your description seem to be a jack for the
Xk150. After careful scrutiny I did not find a part number on the jack. So
. . . I think it best not to paint it red since it is not correct anyway.
I think I’ll keep my eyes open for a red jack that went with my car and try
to sell or trade this one.
Anyone out there want to trade?

Here is a list of what I have in my tool kit that came with the car:

  1. 6" Pliers (Elmoto-Made in England)

  2. 8" wooden handle screwdriver (Sheffield)

  3. Double ended spanner-7/16 AF x 1/2AF(Superslim-Made in England)

  4. Double ended spanner-3/16BSW/1/4BSF x 1/8BSW (Snail Brand)

  5. Double ended spanner- 5/8AF x 9/16AF (TW-Superslim-Made in England)

  6. Double ended spanner-5/16BSW/BSF x 1/2BSF/5/16BSF (Snail-EN5-Made in

England)

  1. Double ended spanner- 7/8AF x 3/4AF (TW-Superslim-Made in England

  2. 2 correct Dunlop Tire irons (Made in England)

  3. Schrader Valve Cap Tin

  4. 6” tommy bar with mushroom head

  5. Tyre pressure gauge (Dunlop-Made in England

  6. 4 Double ended box spanners with holes for tommy bar

  7. 7” Adjustable spanner (Abington-DS)

  8. Ratchet handle wrench for jack

  9. T Handle Lock Key (for spats)

  10. Hand pump; Original jack; Lug nut wrench

Does this seem complete and/or correct to you?

thanks again,

Jack2.jpg1494×2656 856 KB

Jack1.jpg1494×2656 778 KB

thanks again,

mike

14

Mike,

Your pictured black jack looks to be later 1960 XK150 version, so maybe a good swap for a more correct 1953 Red painted SMITHS STEVENSON jack as per my earlier photos.

Your list of XK120 tools is just to simplistic for me to make any sensible comment, as like the Jack, there are many variations of all tools, most wrong, occasionally correct, especially if sourced one at a time from on-line market-places, such as eBay. There are very regular and ongoing misrepresented offerings on eBay, and a few serial offenders who clearly make a huge profit selling junk for good money.

But again all of this must be kept in context - not everyone needs to have 100% correct tools, and many people are just happy enough to impress their neighbours, and don’t need to make the effort and cost to be a ‘correct’ tool-kit.

If you do want exact advice regarding all your listed tools, then best to send me photos, and best to do so direct to rogerpayne@bigblue.net.au as this can involve a little back and forward, as although I can usually identify tools exactly in a good photo, some may require follow up questions.

For instance, from your listing:-
9. Schrader Valve Cap tin. Not required, were never included in XK120 tool-kit.
11. Tyre Pressure Gauge. Not required, were never included in XK120 tool-kit.
3,5. Unlikely to be correct ‘short’ SUPERSLIMS as they have BRITISH MADE on them, and not MADE IN ENGLAND as do the common ‘long’ variety, and there are THREE of these required, not just two as you list.
4,6. Unlikely to be correct SNAIL spanners for 1953, as the size markings you quote are not as they should be in 1953.
12. You should have SEVEN box-spanners, a set-of-three BSF sizes that nest-inside-each other, a set-of-three nesting AF sizes, and a single-ended 1/2"BSF Plug box spanner. You list only four, without commenting whether correct ones or not anyway.

But you get the point - each individual tool needs to be looked at and commented on its merits, or otherwise.

If you refer to Philip Porters Revised 3rd Edition of ORIGINAL JAGUAR XK book, I fully detail/photograph all XK tool-kits, so would be enough to detail what you should be looking for in a 1953 XK120 Tool-Kit.

15

Does anyone have any photos showing the internals of a disassembled XK120 jack?

Thanks,