My Son's XK120 Barn Find

My son lucked into a barn find. It is an XK120SE OTS in California’s Central Valley. It was locked inside a shed behind an old house that was being torn down. The owner of the property bought the house and all contents. I have always told my son to be aware of old houses with garages, barns, or sheds. There might be something of interest there. To make a long story short, he bought the car for (don’t faint) $500. Possible bad; no title or registration papers. Just a bill of sale. The last registration sticker on the license plate is from 1975. We can assume it has been in hibernation since that time. My son thinks this will be an easy restoration. I think it will be several years of aggravation, unless he has the money to take it to a restoration shop and pay them for the aggravation.

Condition; no rusty body panels. No body damage. Some rust on the bumpers. Paint flaked off in some places on the bonnet with corrosion to the metal. Same with plating on the windshield pillars. It looks like some animal had made a home inside the car and was feeding on the leather seats and the carpets. The tires are rotted. All four wheels are frozen. It looks like it was driven into the shed in 1975 and forgotten. It is filthy.

One immediate problem; we can’t open the bonnet. We pull the knob, and it is frozen. I’m sure this is something that has been faced before. Any suggestions on how to open the bonnet?

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Hi Edward,

My XK120 did not have a bonnet release cable when it was parked in 1961 and
it still doesn’t. If you reach under the bridge piece below the grille you
will find a lever on the left side that, if moved to the left, will release
the bonnet.

I was in the same situation as your son in 1969, but I didn’t pay as much as
he did.

Mike Eck
New Jersey, USA
www.jaguarclock.com
'51 XK120 OTS, '62 3.8 MK2 MOD, '72 SIII E-Type 2+2

Reach under the front center a few inches rearwards from the grille and feel a rounded end lever. The cable is supposed to be connected there. Push the lever to your left, i.e. the right hand side of the car. The bonnet should pop open unless something else is rusted and stuck.
We would love to see pictures.

x2!!! - You shouldn’t tease with a story like this and not have pictures ready :slight_smile:
I seem to remember reading a story in Classic Jaguar about an unrestored XK120 that is a daily driver. If I can find it I’ll send a pic or two of the story. - As they say; it’s only original once!

Edward,

If all the parts are there, yet the car needs a 100% restoration, it is likely worth $30 - $40 thousand in today’s market with a clean title. Advise your son to work on getting a clean title in his name before he goes any further. This may or may not be a straight-forward process.

Last year there were postings on this site (and also XKDATA) from an individual claiming that his father’s derelict XK had been sold, decades ago, without the family’s permission. The individual had some old paperwork from the 1960s or 1970s showing the XK had been in his father’s name at one time. Now the XK is completely restored and located in Europe, and the son is trying to get it back.

Although possession is nine-tenths of the law, your son needs to be concerned about the last one-tenth of the law, which is the legal paperwork.

How do I post a picture?

As soon as we can get the bonnet open, we can see the numbers. I hope the car is not stolen. Not overly difficult to get a title here in Nevada. The man from whom my son bought the car, bought the old house and buildings, the land, and all contents. At least that is what he told my son. If the seller of the property had legal title to the car, then the car was sold with the property. I plan some research into the legal aspects of the vehicle before my son (and probably I) put money into the car. I do not want to spend $20,000 for a lawyer to straighten out some ownership mess. The Jaguar is similar to my car, and what is better than a two Jaguar XK120 family?

In your reply, in the icons above your text, you will see one that looks like a rectangle with an arrow pointing up. That is the photo upload. Click that to open the photo image upload window, then click Browse to browse through your computer to find the photo you want to post, select that photo, double click it, then select Upload.

Here is the bonnet latch viewed from underneath.

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Not too bad. I think I would give your son $600 giving him an instant profit. Just Kidding. That looks like a real great starting point. Even if you had to pay a lawyer to get the title secured you would still be doing good. Now here is my question to see if you can answer it. I asked it in another thread and had no answers, so here goes. Does the door latch with just a single click on the latch or is there two clicks like most cars?

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The mechanism for the left door is frozen. I can’t open it. I can open the right door, but it is very stiff. When I close it, it seems to have two clicks very close to each other. I am a little concerned about forcing anything and causing damage. I have never had to deal with a car in this condition.

The process of getting a title in Nevada for an old car is a little complicated, but with patience and perseverance, all obstacles can be overcome. When these cars were first sold and registered in California, the titles identified the car by engine number, not chassis number. I will have one of my friends in law enforcement check with the DMV for any records by engine number, chassis number, and license plate. I strongly suspect that any records for this car have been purged long ago.

For peace of mind at least, have your son secure ownership of it first before expending any time and expenses on it. Even if by some remote chance it was stolen years ago, it will still be red-flagged when trying to register it. That said, you don’t need a lawyer. I’m a Californian and I’ve been in your shoes at least half a dozen times with finds like your son. I’ve titled a '22 Paterson, '36 Pontiac, three late 20s/early 30s Indian motorcycles, an Ariel and most recently, a '36 Sunbeam (motorcycle) – all without paperwork in years past. Buyer beware though. I only did so because I typically already knew the seller or of their reputation.

Here’s how we do it in California:

Download DMV applications for lost title, power of attorney form, and statement of facts form. Have the seller scribble out a statement attesting to the fact that the car has been sold as-is, any paperwork has long since been lost, and to the best of his/ her knowledge, there are no legal claims on it. Have the seller also sign a power of attorney form granting your son legal authority to conduct all DMV business on the seller’s behalf (primarily so the seller doesn’t have to come down to the DMV with you). Take all of that along with his bill of sale too to the DMV. They will enter what he has into their computer system and he can pay his fees at that time too. They will then hand all of his paperwork back to him along with a receipt for fees paid, and he will now need to call his local Highway Patrol office and make an appointment to have the VIN #s verified on his car. He can either drive or trailer it there. Either way, it has to be physically presented to them. They will take his paperwork, have him point out where the car is, then tell him to wait in their reception area. Relax, he’ll be out of there in an hour. In the meantime, an inspector will be running the numbers of his car on whatever national database they use to ensure there are no red flags for that car. Also, checking to see that the VIN #s on his paperwork match what it is on the car. Finally, the officer will sign off on the paperwork along with his badge number, he’ll take all of his paperwork back to the DMV, hand it to a clerk, they will issue him a plate and tags (which he previously already paid for) and your permanent, legal title will show up in about two weeks.

You mention being in Nevada. I would imagine they have a similar process. Good luck. Time spent is only about two afternoons two weeks apart.

Chris

DO NOT force the doors! They were absolute crap when they left the factory and certainly didn’t get better with age. They will crack( and most likely already have) around the hinge plates.

You must be clairvoyant. My first nightmare about the car concerned the hinges. The car has been sleeping since 1975, and there is no reason to wake it up just this moment. Maybe I’ll have my son clean the car, but no time, money, or effort will be invested in the car until my son gets the legal title to it. When my son and I do start the work, we will proceed very slowly and very carefully. My son and I should not have much of a problem doing the mechanical restoration, but I am considering having all the body and interior work done by a shop that has experience with these cars.

Compared to the Nevada DMV in Carson City, the California DMV operates very smoothly and efficiently. You have given us some very good advise. Until my son gets the legal title, I have no intention of expending any money, time, or effort in this car, other than having my son clean it. If somebody has legal title to the car or if it is stolen, then the legal owner can come here to haul it away in its present condition.

State inspection may include clear vision of serial numbers stamped on car parts (not just a riveted id plate or riveted body number plate, which are easily forged or put on another car, or have rivets suggesting replacement), it could help for you to have found stamped numbers and gently cleaned up areas to make visible while maintaining appearance of originality or alteration.

Also, states may have used engine block number, not frame number or body number, for title purposes (e,g, California used engine block numbers in 1950, vehicle identification number came later). A replaced block presents multiple possible title paths for the inspector to pursue before state certification.

For some stages of title, registration, and license plates it may be helpful to have club information on your car, the production date or date of first titling and registration, such as Jaguar Heritage Trust certificate.

Who says my son is stupid? With a little detective work, my son tracked down the attorney who was the executor for the estate. He asked the attorney if there were any papers concerning an old car. In a box of miscellaneous legal papers from the deceased owner was the original pink slip (the California title). For a nominal fee, my son has the pink slip, a letter from the attorney as executor of the estate, death certificate of the car’s owner, and some other papers for the California DMV to transfer the title of the Jagar (sic) to my son. It is titled by the engine number and the “body type model” is SRDXK120. The date first sold is listed as 00/00/54. Now it is save to start putting some money into the car.

That’s great news. Did you ever get the bonnet open?
Registration by engine number is a relic of the Model T era, and is not as good as registering by chassis number.
You should try to get that changed when you transfer the title.
Mine had the wrong model year on the title when I bought it, but I brought some Jaguar history books to the Illinois license office as documentary proof of the correct year, and they were happy to make the change.
Your state will probably be amenable with similar proof, such as photos of the ID plate and chassis stamping.

Totally agree - This is great news. It is fantastic to hear someone having a win with bureaucracy.
Looking forward to living vicariously through the next series of photos you post (hint hint)
In fact Ron Smith should take advantage of a potential original wiring layout for his 120 restoration.

That’s a really cool story! Just curious, I don’t think you mentioned how old your son is?
I had a bit of challenge getting my 140 titled here in NC… It was titled with no problem by my dad in PA when we bought it in 2000 but in NC they do a physical inspection of the car. They determined the VIN plate had been “tampered with” (yep, it was delivered separate from the car to us, I mounted it in roughly the right location using correct style screws), and therefore they could not issue a title based on the car’s number. I did show him the additional stamp in the frame rail that matched my previous title and the VIN plate.

Now I have a new 17 digit VIN with a permanent plate affixed to the door jamb, and the title does not reference any number that was on the car when delivered… Oh well.

My dad’s '56 Bentley was titled by engine #. When he went to Florida DMV to register it the inspector could not find the block # on the engine, so without any further inspection they just took the chassis # and titled by that instead.