Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

November 15th 1996 was a very special day for me, a four and a half year restoration of my 1964 Jaguar Mark 2 was completed and my MOT was booked for 5.00pm.
I drove it the 300 yards to the MOT testing station and arrived on time. I have known the proprietor and been friends with him (still am) for many years.
Up on the four poster it went and armed with his torch he went under it, looked at me and said "....but everything's brand new or looks it, I'll just do a brake test.............."

It passed.

I have written before of the journey home on Dunlop crossply tyres when I felt I was driving on ice on a cold, wet November night after taxing it.

I wish I had a photo to show you of the car then but I don't - no digital cameras then, just SLRs and compacts but it did look good. I bought a new set of Michelin XVS 185 HR 15 tyres the next week

The opalescent silver grey paint looked flawless but therein lies a long story and one which was to disillusion me for the next 22 years.

I'll leave it at there for now and next time I'll give a little of the car's history and how I came to buy it.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Rick]

Looking forward to following this Ellis, a Mk2 is an itch I may have to scratch one day.

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[Ellis]

I wasn't even looking for a Mark 2 Jaguar in February 1990 but had been given the address of a Caernarfon area farmer who was selling a 1967 manual Jaguar 420 which his family had owned from new.

News of it had come by word of mouth from friends and acquaintances in the farming community and I made an appointment to visit.

As expected, the 420 was in a barn, dark blue with a light blue leather interior and registered on the 1st January 1967 *CC 52E. It had been there since 1985 because the local Jaguar dealer didn't want it in part exchange against a new S3 Jaguar XJ6. It was tarpaulined and left. Mileage 62k.
The engine started up with a new battery but after 10 minutes idling the bottom end rumble could be clearly hard. The power steering did not work and it needed a lot doing to it but the interior was pristine.
I still consider the 420 a handsome vehicle but I declined the car.

Travelling home through a small village called Llanrug I caught sight of a Mark 2 under the former petrol pump canopy of a run down garage.
I stopped and had a look, the proprietor introduced himself and we talked and found we both knew mutual friends.
"the Jaguar's yours for £3000". It was a local car, January 1964 non suffix registered and untidy, an MOT failure from 1983 which the former owner had just left there.
The E Type and Jaguar Mark 2 1989 bubble had burst by then and I said "no thank you" with a wry smile and left.

In June 1991, out of the blue, I received a phone call from the owner. He had apparently contacted on of our mutual friends and was given my 'phone number. He was retiring and had sold his garage and land to a local coach company and needed to sell everything.
I was there two days later with the c0-owner of the local bodyworks. He looked the car over and said one word "sound". He bought an early Sunbeam Alpine himself there and then.

The Jaguar's owner told me the 58K mileage was correct. I didn't believe him and said so. He produced the last 1982 MOT and the 1983 fail sheet and the V5.

Do you want to know how much I paid for the Mark2? No, of course you don't .
Well, it was less than half of what was asked the previous year and now my story really begins.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Ellis]

This next part of the Jaguar's story should be the most comprehensive of all but you have all restored cars in the past so I will spare you the minutiae of the restoration.

I had a plan from the first and the car was stored from June 1991 until October 1992 while I accumulated all the spares and new parts I thought I would need.
It was during this time that the shed in which the Mark 2 was stored was broken into and the fograngers disappeared as well as the instruments - speedo(showing 58k miles), tachometer, front grille and lots of those difficult to replace parts including the wood trim.
The investigating police officer concluded that everything had "been stolen to order". Some consolation!

Then I had a stroke of luck. I owned a VW Caddy pick up at the time and I went along to the local breaker's yard to buy a 5 speed gearbox from a MOT failure VW Scirocco to convert my Caddy. I had known the manager for years and during the course of the conversation he told me of the existence of a 1965 3.8 Mark 2 which was complete but beyond restoration near Arrowebrook Hospital on the Wirall.
Phone calls were made and I was introduced to the daughter of the car's owner. The 3.8 belonged to her late father but had been garaged since 1989 until his passing and it was time now to dispose of it. I was offered to remove from it everything I needed for £500 before it was taken away for scrapping.

I arrived with my pick up and trailer one Saturday morning and was led to a double wooden garage containing a new Nissan Micra and an opalescent silver blue Mark 2 on steel wheels covered by a cotton sheet. It was heart breaking in a sense because the Jaguar was spotless but completely corroded from the sills down. Both rear spring mounts had collapsed.
It yielded everything I wanted, a dark blue interior, complete woodwork, bonnet, boot lid, instruments, windscreen, lights, 4 doors, chrome trim and a myriad of those parts you will always need in the future.

The former owner's widow provided coffee, afternoon tea and when I had a pick up and trailer full of Jaguar Mark 2 I went to pay. The son in law arrived and I handed over £500 in cash in his presence and was promptly give £25 back as "luck".

As we made our good natured good byes she went back into the house and presented me with this :



I could have had the engine, gearbox and rear lsd had I have wanted. The one thing I could not remove was the heated rear window, it was as if it was welded in place.
The car was immaculate bar for the severe corrosion and I asked the son in law why she didn't want to sell it complete, the answer was that she did not want to see the car again and wanted it crushed.
I can only conclude that her husband may have passed away in the car but it was no business of mine so no further questions were asked.

Next time I will give a brief account of the restoration and after that, what you really want to see - what happened to the flawless, as I thought, 1996 paintwork.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Ray White]

I couldn't help noticing the camshaft timing tool in the kit. I am sure the owner/driver would not be expected to tackle that job but if he did then there is another tool he would need; shown here...

[Rick]

[Ray White]

This gives a good idea of what is involved...

http://www.georgiajag.com/Documents/HeadArticleJCNA07/XKHead.htm

[Ellis]

I do not intend to take up your time in asking you to read of everything that was done to the Mark 2 except relate some of the more interesting things that happened.

As soon as the car came of storage I asked for the services of the local shotblasting concern (ProBlast which was then owned by a former bodyman). With the car supported on eight axle stands, he mediablasted the entire underneath of the car so I could assess the amount of rust damage. The Bodywork's partners were aghast at this but what was revealed was a sound shell, perfect front wings and even sound rear spring hangers . The sills were, er, due for replacement and I already had bought new old stock inner and outer items for the offside.
The reproduction near side sills from a well known manufacturer were not a patch on the original parts.

I insisted that all bodywork was done with all mechanical parts in place to assist rigidity. I was not their most popular customer! But I was paying......

Bodywork finished, my friends Andrew, the late Roy McBurnie and myself removed the entire front subframe with engine, gearbox and axles ourselves. The rear axle proved awkward to remove but was persuaded to do so with an oxy acetylene torch, a lot of force and very bad language.

Andrew and I reconditioned the front suspension, brakes ourselves. To our surprise we needed only one front wheel bearing but we renewed the dampers and front coil springs.

The finest mechanic I have known, sadly now the late Roy McBurnie took the engine to his home workshop to dismantle. About ten days later he phoned me one Saturday morning and said "....come over this afternoon, there's something you should see.....".
A little nervous I arrived and saw the engine dismantled into it's hundreds of different components.
"I could put it back together exactly as it is, there's no wear anywhere - look at the honing marks in the cylinders." It was a genuine 58k engine or one which had been meticulously maintained. Even the oil was a light brown colour. He rebuilt it with standard new bearings, piston rings, timing chains and tensioners. Even the oil pump was declared perfect and reused. There wwere unusual parts on the pistons - a bottom scraper ring which should not have been there on a 1963 built car.

Unbeknown to me the bodyshop had taken photos of the work as it progressed to show potential customers but because the concern closed late last year I have little chance or obtaining them. Don't worry there will be plenty to look at later in this series.

That's quite enough for today and next I will describe bare metalling the shell and the surprise that was revealed.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Rick]

I never get bored about reading of other people's restorations, take up as much time as you like

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[kevin2306]

Type faster Ellis 😀

Kev

[Ellis]

With most of the mechanical parts rebuilt, renewed, reconditioned by the Spring of 1993 it was time that I turned my attention to the bodywork.
I had agreed with the two partners who owned the bodyworks that their part of the work - new sills, front crossmember would be done at their own pace and the had a generous deadline of twelve months to do the work.

You may remember that in the early 1990s new bodyshells for the MGB, MGB GT and finally Midget/Sprite became available with only three months waiting time from order and the bodywork place were inundated with work reshelling MGs. They got it down to a fine art as well. A repainted new bodyshell with all major mechanical components fitted could be turned round in less than three months.

In the meantime I had two bonnets, eight doors, two bootlids to choose the best from. The Mark 2 was in BRG and the two best corrosion free doors were the two from the nearside (surprisingly) so my first task at home was to strip these down, they were faded and scratched anyway.
There are two small covers on the tops of the door shuts and when I used a screwdriver to remove them flakes of green paint came away and revealed the original colour of the doors - opalescent silver blue!

The old Nitromors was fearsome stuff but it took three attempts to remove several layers of paint - green, a primer, a basecoat, opalescent silver blue and two further basecoats.
The green paint on the inside of the doors was thin and underneath that, yes, you can guess opalescent silver blue.

The doors were the originals to the car, the window etchings were of the same October 1963 dates. It would appear that I had a car with something of a past.

I was told later that it was not unknown for Jaguar to change a car's colour for a priority order during manufacture. I was looking forward to see what was under the remaining paintwork.

Here are photos I took at the time of the two covers and I have kept them as souvenirs and used others from the other n/s doors :





Interesting eh? Next time I will tell you more of what I found on removing the paint from the engine bay and boot.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Ellis]

I hope that this part of my narrative will take us up to 1996 which is where the the beginning of the part in which you all will now be interested.

In April 1996 I was allowed to use the Bodywork's premises on weekends and bank holidays to remove all the paint from the repaired shell. The engine compartment and the boot were the worst parts to do. Twenty five years of engine grime had to be removed with the use of a Baby Burco Boiler, caustic soda and the "best" oil remover - Flash!.
Once the bodysell was clean, inside and out I started with the Nitromors - 15 litres of it. I started on the engine bay and below the BRG paint was opalescent silver blue in the lower half of the engine bay.!
It was a horrible job, I cut myself numerous times and Nitromors added to the delight. Finally I had a bare metal engine compartment and boot which was painted only in BRG and easily if messily removed

The doors, bonnet and bootlid were all stripped at home and given a black phosphate protective coat by me using my own small compressor.
The door shuts, bonnet compartment and boot were then sprayed in opalescent silver grey and the engine, gearbox and rear axle were refitted by my friends and myself. The Mark 2 was then taken to Roy's (sic) workshop for final fettling. It started first push on the starter button.

I was advised to remove the remainder of the paint at the Bodywork's own premises. The roof was pure green but the front wings had opalescent silver blue under the green. Finally I had a bare metal Mark 2.
I offered to spray a light phosphate coat over the whole car but my offer was refused.

By the middle of June the entire car had been painted in ICI 2.K Iso Cyanate Opalescent Silver Grey and even I had to admit it looked magnificent.My fist choice of colour was to have been Opalescent Maroon but I was dissuaded from this by the Bodyshop's owners.

I was told to let the paint harden for two weeks and then I could move in with my already prepared trim - wood, seats, dashboard. You would be surprised how much space a car's interior take up in a spare bedroom.

Next time it will be a concise account of fitting out.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Ellis]

I had over the previous two years prepared the interior ready for fitting.
I had mixed feelings for the leather renovation kits of the time and it took two attempts with different types to achieve an acceptable result.
Times have moved on since 1994 and the modern redyeing kits from Furniture Clinic and others give great results.

I enjoy renovating old furniture but even I was nervous about restoring the walnut veneered parts. Jaguar veneers were never French Polished and I was only adequately satisfied with the cellulose lacquers I had used on the "S" type previously. The method then was achieve as smooth a surface as possible,apply wood dye and seal with cellulose sanding sealer followed by two coats of cellulose lacquer. The effect was not shiny enough to my satisfaction.

I have no intention of turning this into a "How to do your veneers" but I was given advice from a bespoke paint sprayer who had changed careers to a wholesale food manager for a friend's expanding business.

I had been warned that I could use 2 Pack lacquer but apart from the need for breathing apparatus there can be a "fish eye" effect on occasions.

He visited me one day and explained his way of achieving a high gloss finish on dashboards, cappings and other wooden trim parts.
It's so simple that at first I was doubtful.
I promise that this is the only time I will do a "How to.."

First strip all the old lacquer with paint stripper and allow the trim part to dry for a week preferably at garage room temperature,
Rub with finishing paper and clean with Pre Paint/Panel Wipe and allow to dry. The Pre Paint does not raise the grain.
Apply dye as required, allow to dry and then paint polyurethane varnish with a soft brush. Apply three or four coats and allow to dry.
Rub the by now gritty surface with 600 grade wet and dry and increase by increments to 1000, 1200 even.
By now you have a smooth but completely matt surface.

Compressor time. Use a gravity or "jamb gun" at 90 psi and spray undiluted polyurethane varnish in mist coats on to the surface and you will obtain a glass like surface with three or four applications.
I used Ronseal Hard Glaze Polyurethane varnish and there's been no deterioration in 24 years.
The dyes I used were Indian Rosewood and Yellow Pine on the borders

Everybody has their own way but the above worked for me.






That's enough for today.

Fitting out next time.

[Ellis]

Seeing that there is little of interest on the TV tonight, I will finish off as concisely as I can the fitting up and fettling of the Mark 2 to completion.

In order to get it done as soon as we could the staff of the Bodyworks volunteered to help me over two weekends. It all went remarkably smoothly but I foresaw one problem - the headlining. Derek, one of the welders and the jig operator piped up and said "no problem". He had fitted headlinings to the reshelled MGB GTs and new hoods to the MGBs went about it as if he was trained to the task and installed it in less than an hour.

There was one disaster, the original windscreen with it's 1963 markings cracked on fitting. To fit a Mark 2 windscreen, you fit the rubber to the aperture and "persuade" the glass to fit in it and on applying pressure to the nearside top (the weakest part) the screen cracked. I had a spare - the one from the 1965 3.8 litre (sic).

The car looked magnificent and I was asked if I would leave it on the prominent part of their forecourt for display. It attracted a lot of attention including two serious attempts to buy it.

Finally I got it home and gave it a few runs to see what was amiss. I had a "zeroed" odometer and I drove it for about 400 miles. The only real problem was a sticky solenoid on the overdrive and that was easily seen to by cleaning - the solenoid was new old stock from the 1960s which the local garage proprietor remembered having in stock.

I had a major business project starting in February 1997 and I knew I would not have time to use the Mark2. I bought one of those expensive "breathable" multi layer polyester car covers and parked the car in my relatively dry garage.
I hardly went near it for twelve months such were the pressures on my time.
Andrew, one of my mechanic friends started it up twice without difficulty.

By June 1998 the first phase of my new venture was complete and up and running with phase 2 to start in March 1999.

I had the luxury of a half day off on Monday 8th March so the garage door was opened, the cover removed and I started the engine and reversed the car out into an early and sunny Spring morning.

Ever had that "sinking feeling"? I looked the car over and saw microblisters all over the bodywork - everywhere with a horizontal surface and balloon like blisters on other parts. To add insult to injury, by leaving one window slightly open mice had eaten a hole in the headlining. Some of the paint had crazed. It looked a mess so I quickly drove it back into the garage and out of sight.

Now the second part of my story starts and you will see photographs.
I think you can all guess to whom my first telephone call was made within minutes.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Rick]

Looking forward to seeing a photo of the entire car - interesting story!

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop