I’m a Navy helicopter pilot currently stationed in DC and the current custodian of T831832DN, a 1958 150S OTS matching numbers car, originally Cream with a Light Blue interior.
Enclosed is a photo upon delivery a few years ago (only one I have here with me)
A restoration was started about twenty years ago, and then halted. Much of the body work was completed at a well-known Calif shop. The body is near-ready for paint, and sits on the completed/restored chassis in Orange County, CA.
I’d like to start a discussion with the forum regarding options for the way forward. The end goal is, to use a phrase in another thread, “showroom” quality but short of a concours contender. My preference is to commission the completion of body work and paint, then have the whole jumble sent to me in DC where I will finish the restoration. I’m open to having the body/paint work done anywhere, but for logistical ease think it may be beneficial to have it done near SOCAL? Let’s start the discussion there.
Hopefully, this thread will morph into restoration chronicle, culminating in photos of the finished car!
Welcome, D.
My own preference would be to do the body work and paint myself, but if that is not your preference, you need to find a shop very familiar with the XK series, as they are not like your ordinary modern cars, nor even '60s muscle cars.
I would prefer one near me where I could visit the car every couple of weeks to check on the work.
I can recommend one in northeast Illinois that has done many 150s.
My first suggestion is to have the paint done locally, where you can see what’s going on, talk in person to those doing the work, etc. Long distance relationships are hard on the owner. Having a local shop to touch up a boo-boo 2 years from now will prove to be invaluable.
Also, the local shop knows he’ll have to live with the finished product and can assume you’ll recommend him to other local owners. This is a HUGE incentive for him to do a top-notch job.
Now that we’ve fixed your paint… Every bit of rubber on the car is now 20+ years old. Choppers get yearlies, so should our cars. I’d suggest new flexible brake lines at least, there are only 3 so it’s an easy swap-out. They will have a date stamp on them. I’d also be suspect of the seals in the M/C, brake cylinders and calipers, but a couple of hard miles when finished my prove them to still be sound.
I agree, having the body finished here locally certainly has its advantages. However, I’m new to the area and have no real contacts established yet. Can anyone recommend a shop near the DC area? At the local JCNA meet in October, I asked but got no real lead.
FWIW, I bought a 64 E Type which had all the bodywork done and was primed. I had it trucked to my body shop and they discovered there was a thin coat of filler beneath the primer, but a thin coat of rust beneath the filler skim coat. It cold have been a real disaster had they finish coated the existing primer. Doubt a reputable shop will be able to vouch for what us beneath the rimer and will want to strip it again.
Mike Moore
This is because in the early days of jag-lovers (1990s) which was mainly XK and E Types in those days it was not a forum in the present sense but a distributed email list hence the term we all used then, ‘Lister’
And before that it was a newsgroup with all Jaguars together, and before that it was all British cars together, and before that it was all antique cars together, rec.autos.antique, with just a few dozen participants at science, government and educational facilities, the only people who had desktop computers and access to the web.
Hate to admit this, but back in the old days we used acoustic couplers to attach our phone handset into to send posts back and forth to text-only bulletin boards (BBS) at - get this - 300 baud. That’s 300 bits/sec. You had to set a small transistor radio next to the computer to listen so you could tell by the tone whether you’d lost the handshake.
But, we digress.
Killer, search the archives before posting to see if the topic has been discussed. You’ll often get an answer before you read half of them. They’re dated so when looking for something timely like a supplier’s viability on a part, it could be better to ask for fresh info.
Mitchman,
I did in fact search for restoration threads and posts.
That’s how I found the “showroom” definition.
But your reply indicates I was not specific enough.
First, I wanted to have a discussion about the options (opinions) of local vs distant restorers. Got that.
Second, to solicit NEW recommendations for vendors, particularly local ones. The last one I found in any of the forums was early 2018, and none locally.
Sorry Killer, I was not specific enough. Use the members as a current resource of course. But, if looking for information on a specific part, fitting, method of installation in the future you might find that past discussions will give more information more quickly than waiting for members to see your new post and then comment.
Many members have drifted away leaving terrific answers in the archives that won’t be available from current members.
