Pretty minor in the big scheme of things. Nobody injured and a relatively easy fix. One more good restoration story to tell.
Get one of these:
With some patience you can achieve very good results.
The trick is to go very slow with very light hammering.
Plenty of tutorials on YouTube.
Best of luck!
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Flipping heck Nick! will you fix this yourself?
Have you not seen his XK120???
fair point, I was actually wondering about the insurance part.
Bloody hell.
I hope you have some paint left. Is the damage more than that wing?
Very true. I have a tendency to lower the bonnet after having removed the air filter plenum. Unfortunately I tend to forget to secure the most outboard clip that secures the top of the filter to the canister so there is a 2mm “chip” out of the paint on the bottom edge of the bonnet at that location. The HORROR! (ref Apocalypse Now)
And then… if, or when the day comes that I leave the doctor’s office with a bad diagnosis I will drive straight home and take the jag out for long drive. I will drive the shift out of it. I will wear it out and chuckle about that little chip while I’m at it.
These are great cars!
Been there, done that. Well, maybe not that specific issue, but something at least as dumb, and potentially much more dangerous. I suspect we all have, it is a wonder that some of us have gotten to the age we have. Anyway, you will want to pull the radiator, it is the only way to apply force in the correct direction to get it to straighten out, and I found it helped to loosen the frame bolts as the assembly may want to shift a bit as the legs spread back out. Fortunately that bracket is mild steel, and it will tolerate a little shifting.
2006 just finished a complete restoration of my 74 roadster…the first time I closed the bonnet, the fit seemed a little snug. Next day I noticed two very small dimples on either side of the hood. I had setup the rear gearbox mount wrong and the engine was dropped to far down…tough day but I found a great dent repair guy that fixed it within 15 minutes. Jeff S. Atlanta, GA
A friend of mine, restoring his own E Type, had good reason for feeling a tad nauseous. The following picture shows the final result affecting the E Type.
Other vehicles involved were:
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a nicely restored XJ6, the nose of which is shown covered by a blue car cover peaking in from right of picture,
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a race bike, the wheel of which can be seen next to the E Type bonnet,
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a late model Triumph motor cycle out of picture, hard up against the back end of the XJ6,
and
- the car that caused it all, their daily driver, an X Type.
The X Type was parked outside of one of the closed roller door of their double roller door garage. Wife hopped into the car, selected Reverse and hit the accelerator, only to find that Drive had actually been engaged; this launched the car through the closed roller door. Realizing what had happened, she slammed her foot on the brake, only to find that it was the accelerator; this caused the constant 4 wheel drive to really hunker down and urged the car forward with gusto.
Normally the E Type tub would have been on a dolly in front of the XJ6. On this occasion it was parked beside the XJ6 whilst inner bonnet panels where hanging in a makeshift paint booth in front of the XJ6 and escaped damage.
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The Triumph was parked parallel to the roller door just inside the garage; it was the first casualty and was written off. It cannoned into the back of the XJ6 causing substantial damage to the rear of the car (boot lid was beyond repair).
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The XJ6 cannoned into the race bike, causing damage to the front of the XJ6 and the race bike.
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Race bike slammed into the bonnet centre section, that was leaning against the edge of the table, further damaging the race bike and pushing the bonnet and table a distance of 12 feet to finish hard up against the back wall.
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And of course, the X Type was damaged. The once closed roller door scraping the full length of the bonnet, then turret, finishing on the boot lid behind the rear glass.
The E Type bonnet was more badly damaged than it appears in the picture, with the power bulge quite flattened where it contacted the table. One door of the E Type was also damage and is out of sight under the XJ6. In total, AUD43,000.00 worth of damage resulted.
Regards,
Bill
Bob as others have said a good paintless repair guy should be able to make it disappear. A few years ago I was backing into garage without paying close enough attention and rubbed side of my bonnet against the wood door frame. Much larger dent than yours. Paintless guy working out of local Aston Martin dealer worked it out in about an hour. Watching him looked like took a lot of skill and proper levers and spoons. I was lucky there was no scratching or cracks in the paint so be careful about picking at anything before getting professional opinion if this is the way you choose to go. Most places did not want to touch it so might take some shopping around for a place used to dealing with thicker steel.
David
68 E-type FHC
This car has no bondo in it and I want to keep it that way. That means an old school panel beater who knows how to reform and shrink steel, and who’s familiar with E-types. Not easy to find these days.
I’m with Hagerty and they’ve been great to work with. They sent an appraiser who’s familiar with classics and he’s been great too. I called RM Restorations a couple of days after the incident and they agreed to take the car early November while I sourced the repair parts, but seven weeks later on the day they were to pick up the car they cancelled my slot, citing COVID and a change in their show schedule. No future slots available either, apparently.
So, the appraiser inquired around for shops with E-type experience in the general area and came up with two and on Friday last I drove out to visit both. The first was a bust. The guy told me he’s pushing 75 and just can’t handle the work anymore, and his part time bodyman doesn’t have what it takes. Second shop looked good. They showed me pics of exactly the same repair they did on a FHC a few years ago and provided the name of the owner for reference. Problem is, their guy who did the work hasn’t come in for months because of COVID. They said they’d find out if he’d make an exception for this job but so far no call back.
So, it’s looking like I’ll be doing the job myself, when I’d really rather be finishing the 120. Just need to figure out how to make room with both cars in the shop. The bonnet has to come off, which complicates space allocation. I have plenty of matching paint so no problem there. There’s also a crease in the rear wing that’ll be an easier fix, though it’ll require taking out the fuel tank. Nothing I haven’t done before.
Have you considered a paintless dent removal service? I’ve seen some guys whose work is simply amazing.
EVERY. DAMN. DAY.
HA! Guess what? I did exactly what some others have done. Shortly after taking delivery of my pristine '70 E Type, I decided to remove the front wire wheels to really clean them well. I used a jack on the radiator support…got the same dents you’re referring to. Like you, I was ready to fill the puke bucket. Paintless dent guy did an amazing job…totally invisible! Good luck. It’s nice to know that others do the same things I’ve done (sorry!). Like, around 1970, I had a '68 E Type. The coolest thing was having Koni shocks on…they were orange and highly visible. So, I got my new Koni shocks, wondering why the hell there were six in my order. I didn’t know there are two on each rear corner. After checking things out, and viewing the fat coil spring surrounding each I figured…there’s only one bolt top and bottom on the shock…should be easy enough to remove. The nuts came off easily, then…tap, tap, tap the bolt out. Then…TWANG, as the coil spring expanded. Try as I might, I couldn’t push the spring back with anything (duh me!). My mechanic had a good laugh, responding with: “What in the hell did you do now”? I’m nearly 74 years old, and trying hard just to polish and drive my Jag…my rudimentary mechanical skills usually end up screwing something up. But, I’m always yearning for the satisfaction of actually accomplishing something myself.
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Has anyone ever seen an unrestored e type that has not had the bonnet dented by the radiator and the lower picture frame damaged by jacking without a proper spacer? If such a unicorn exists I would love to know about it.
Until this past week, I had one to show you, but not any longer… 
So your still has an undamaged picture frame?
Take the wing off the bonnet and send it to Chuck. All you’ll have to do is reinstall and paint it.
That is one of my options, Marco, and Chuck has already made that suggestion when I contacted him to inquire about the best way to approach the repair. What I want to do is get the bonnet off and upside down in a cradle and determine whether or not I can effect the repair without taking the wing off, which involves melting away the lead seam under the headlamp. Also, taking the wing off, crating it up and shipping it across the border and back adds a considerable complication.