Hello Harry (aka. “Big H”) Swank and “Abbygail”. I trust all goes
well with you and “Her”. And a warm welcome Aaron Goldman to the
“Jag-Lovers”- “Saloons-Digest”. It’s cool to here of another Mark 10
being resurrected. I’m also going through the pains of rebuilding my
1965 4.2 litre Mark 10, chassis No. ID 50892 BW. I’ve just had her
return home after a stint at the panel shop. The whole engine bay was
stripped out, de-rusted and painted in the body colour of silver-grey.
De-rusted? Well, I always thought that my car was in above average
condition with only the odd bit of rust appearing here and there, such
as the bottom of the front passenger side door skin (why is it that they
all rust in that door? -my XJ6 series I has the same problem too!). With
the engine and gearbox out, I took the opportunity to have the front
lower cross member repaired as it had some minor rust due to a leaking
radiator. Did I say minor rust? The whole cross member and part of the
box chassis section, that the the roll bar and mounting for the massive
front suspension assembly attach to, had to be reconstructed! Removal of
the massive heater assembly also revealed major rust though the
bulkhead! In order to repair that, I had to completely dismantle the
entire dash board assembly and remove everything that was attached to
the bulkhead. So much for my “average condition” car…
It's a strange phenomenon that happens to many people when tackling
a minor ailment of one’s pride and joy. For me, the initial intention
was to only fix the rear brakes and re-unit the original motor, 7D
51468/8 (currently rebuilding it) in place of the XJ6 motor I’d
temporarily installed just to keep her running. However, before I knew
it, I’d rebuilt the whole independent rear suspension (replaced the
original rear brake callipers with new XJ6 units), rebuilt the entire
front suspension assembly (well it’s not quite finished yet either) and
had the entire engine bay repaired and painted.
The panel shop also fabricated a plate (complete with hole) on the
transmission tunnel for the manual gearbox with compact overdrive
conversion. Finding all the correct pieces to make the conversion just
right was one hell of a task. Jaguar never made that many manual Mark
10’s to begin with! Apart from the manual conversion (parts from a
wrecked 4.2litre Mark 10), I’ll be adding electric windows (from another
wrecked Mark 10), a webasto roof (courtesy of a wrecked Series I XJ6)
and 15 inch wire wheels wheels (from a wrecked Series III V12 E-Type).
As it stands though, it will be some months before everything comes
together. It doesn’t help when one is also distracted by other projects
such keeping the rust at bay on the XJ6, fully restoring one (or both
Fiat 850 coupes) and restoring the Matra Simca Bagheera. All at the same
time!
Looking forward to hearing more about your Mark 10's re-birth and of
anyone else who owns what must be one of Sir William Lyons’ finest
creations.
Johannes BAKKER, New
Zealand.
Current Projects are:
Jaguar 1965 Mark 10 (auto, soon to Manual with O/D). Currently
rebuilding her. Well, trying to!
Jaguar 1970 XJ6 (auto). I just love the Pre-71 XJ6’s the best. It’s
just a personal thing, honest!
Fiat 850 Coupe x2. 1965 & 66 (single head-light, tail-light model).
Very rare & highly underrated!
Matra Simca Bagheera 1974 (three-seat abreast Glass fibre French Sports
Car) Highly Unusual?