I have been cleaning up around my mom’s house and getting some of dad’s stuff out of her way. I now have a Jag Mk2 Moss gearbox with the Laycock de Normanville overdrive complete with the switch stalk for the steering column.
Would anyone here be interested in this? I honestly have no idea what it’s worth, so if anyone could shed some light on that, it would be greatly appreciated.
I have also attached some pics of it. It’s hard to tell but the serial numbers on the top cover and the main case match.
For history, we lived in Northern Ireland for a couple of years and moved back stateside in 1980. While over there, dad restored a 1967 Mk2 and brought it back with us. He also brought back several spare parts including this and an engine. I do still have the engine but that is a story for a different day.
I believe that the GBN prefix and the cover on the cover for the selector finger make it a Moss box. Perhaps, it’s not the gearbox that was original to the car. I’ve not much idea as to its value in the US or the UK for that matter. On eBay, all synchro boxes seem to have asking prices two or three times as much as Moss boxes. The exception seems to be the quite rare all synchro from the 240. For me, its ratios make it the most desirable, but no one seems to want them.
Its a Mk Sedan moss box. The overdrive unit holds some value. The moss box is pretty much worthless. I had two. I finally removed the overdrive units and sold them. Then scrapped the Moss box parts.
The o\d units vary internally between 2.4, 3.4 and 3.8 Mk2s, related to hydraulic operating pressure and the 3.8 has 4 extra springs tensioning the clutch lining. Surely this would be just the ticket for upgrading an XK or even an auto car?
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to identify the different models externally, but no doubt serial no of the unit will reveal.
I find overdrives to be fascinating devices, and loved my cars that had them, (3.8 Mk2, 3.4 S,and 4.2 S1 XJ6) with their lower ratio final they had instant go if you switched out of o\d and quicker than a downshift in a 5 speed. If you Google epicyclic gears, the history is amazing as well.
