Hey guys, I recently acquired my all time dream car. A 1961/1962 XKE flat floor car. I don’t exactly know what year it is as the title hasn’t been handed over yet and the build plate was removed when the car was repainted and not reinstalled. I did find the Chassis number stamped by the right shock, which listed it as a LHD FOC #098.
Car is a “barnfind”, been sitting for the past 31 years+. At some point in it’s life someone pulled the engine for whatever reason and replaced it with Pontiac sprint 6 and an unknown transmission. It was repainted a cream and green, and all the interior was recovered with a very 70s metallic green and white vinyl. Floors are pretty much gone on the car but the rest of it is in reasonable condition. Going to require A LOT of work though after running a magnet over the shell appears it may have been in a front/rear collision at some point.
First main question is, is there a way to track down the cars history with just the Chassis code?
Is there a way to find out what the original engine and gearbox codes are? I know the engine should be a 3.8l “R” but I don’t know any more then this.
Where can I get parts for this? Specifically an original engine and gear box.
Is the Pontiac swap “common” as far as blasphemous engine swaps? (
The front clip does not appear to have been harmed in the hackery, just a dimple in the hood which I can repair easily enough.)
Also I applogize in advance if these questions have been asked in the past, in my excitement of getting this car I just made an account and wrote this post.
In the older days many US folks changed out the xk engines (which are virtually indestructible) for american V8’s…mostly due to rumors of Jaguar “Engine issues” which, in reality, were due to “Prince of Darkness” issues (Lucas). I don’t look forward to your restoration, if that is your intent, but I would suggest buying a shop manual as a start… and researching on this site as well. I believe there is a special Jag forum on this site devoted to engine swaps.
I hope that you don’t mean that the is literally the text that is stamped there, as that is not what Jaguar did. If it is really the 98th LHD FHC (Fixed Head Coupe), then the Chassis Number/Car Number will be 885098 and it will be stamped on the top of the cross member by the mounting point for the right hand front shock absorber.
You can order a Heritage Certificate from the Jaguar Heritage Trust in the UK given that you have the Chassis Number. If you can prove ownership of the car they may give you the serial numbers of the Engine, Gearbox and Body but their policy on that seems variable these days. If you could provide them with the Body Number from the car that would probably help. It will be found on a small aluminium tag which is attached close to the back end of the bulkhead that runs along the side of the luggage compartment on the left hand side. On a FHC it will be underneath the upholstery, so not trivial to uncover. The very early cars had the body number plate attached to the engine firewall on the right hand side, but I don’t think your car is early enough to have the plate there.
I misspoke, it is stamped 885098 on the picture frame (I think that’s what it’s called) or core support, just left of the right front shock upper mount. I will track down that tag, I intend to gut the interior this weekend so long as removing the carpet doesn’t remove the rest of the floor with it as I’ve seen that happen to a few cars in the past.
I do it intend to restore the body and chassis to original or close to original condition, however seeing as how finding the numbers matching engine is slim to none I do not know what engine I will end up doing.
I am a fairly experienced fabricator and have access to everything I could ever need to bring the car back to life properly as far as metal work and paint goes, parts are really what I lack.
First off, welcome to the forum, AKA the “Looney Bin.”
I would guess that most of us can relate to that exhillerating feeling of fulfilling a life-long dream of owning an E Type. Congratulations on you acquisition! Too bad about the PO installing a lump. As said earlier, the original XK engine is pretty simple and bullet proof. The original gearbox, a Mossbox for your car, was already out of date by '61, but it, too was a very rugged and reliable transmission. Depending on how original you want your restoration, a later gearbox out of a 4.2 is another option. It has synchromesh on all four forward gears while the Moss box had a non-syncho first gear.
Hi Jonathon, welcome to Jag-Lovers. Many of us can probably relate to the excitement of acquiring our first Etype. If only you could capture some of your excitement in a bottle and dole it out over the next few years, as there will be times that you will need it! The folks here love to help and no quesiton is too trivial. I’m sure you will have many.
Even if you know bodywork, do yourself a favor and watch/read everything that Chuck at Monocouque Metalworks has to offer. There is both a website and a Youtube channel with lots of good info on how to restore the bodies correctly.
Most parts can be purchased from “the usual” vendors. I prefer to stick with one, SNG Barrett, but there are several. Where you live may impact your decision in that regard.
I am restoring a 63 FHC that came in boxes. So I am a little ahead of you but not by much. Bodywork takes time. My restoration blog is here:
Final tip- starting with the upholstery you plan to remove, document everything with photos and save everything, no matter condition.
+1 on Harvey’s advice.
SNG Barrett is an excellent parts source and they have a fantastic parts catalogue. Other “usuals” include Coventry West, MossMotors, Terry’s Jaguar and the aforementioned Welsh Enterprises.
This has some places to look for numbers. I think I remember reading on the early cars that the body number was also stamped on one of the gussets at the rear of the bonnet (hood) that attaches the wing (fender) to the center section.
David, per Haddock you are correct. Also there might be a body number plate pop riveted to the right hand side of the firewall.
Haddock by default mentions “early cars” a lot in his book. If I actually owned a really early car, like this one, it would drive me nuts, as what constitutes an early car tends to vary depending on the subject detail at hand.
Don’t you just hate those who live in the US for ten years and never bother to learn the American language? I think no one should graduate from grade school without learning either Cherokee, Apache, Ute or Arapaho. LLoyd July, 2014
Hi Jonothan,
Got a question that might seem unrelated to your new wheels but bare with me.
There used to be a guy on this page, very helpful and knowledgable, but he had this thing about E Types being doomed in the future as owners grew older, despite some pretty strong market evidence saying otherwise across a huge range of classics including E Types.
I bought mine 10 years ago when I was 43 and think he’s totaly off the mark with his comments.
Your thoughts would be appreciated…(I didn’t ask the question but you’ll figure out what it is👍)
Cheers Craig.
Thank you all so much for the help and support! I’m thrilled on this, I’m only 26 so I’m young in comparison to most but I have been building hot rods since I could hold a wrench.
As per request here are a few shots. Car needs floors and rockers but that would be fairly simple, just a matter of sheet metal and a slip roller for the rocker and then the pullmax with a custom tooling dye will make the beads in the floor just fine.
I did run across Moss Motors and they do seem to have a great deal of stuff for the car, including a front window which I was very worried about sourcing.
I’ll post some shots of the floor when I have it back in the air again. It’s on the 4-post but I’ve half a dozen cars personally that each get some attention along with client cars of course.
