THIRD POST - APRIL 2011 - WHERE TO START?

First job has to be the production of a rough schedule to fit into the time frame allowed.  The detail between each stage can be filled in later.
First stage and target for the end of July is:

• List all missing parts and instigate searches through contacts / eBay etc.
• Establish new parts / panels required for the body and decide on procedure
• Reference body to chassis with measurements and "pin hole" reference points etc.
• Remove Body and fit to temporary chassis jig.
• Decide on process to take complete body back to bare metal and instigate
• Deliver bare metal body to body shop for long term (1 Year ?) process
• Prepare workshop for next stage - Chassis strip.

There is some pretty boring stuff in the above list and the potential to stall at this early stage is high.  The solution for me is to punctuate the boring stuff with interesting "sub-projects" i.e. restoring a particular part that simply takes your fancy.  There is however, a golden rule - ONE BIT AT A TIME -  The temptation to tear into and dismantle endless bits must be avoided at all cost.  I'm sure that Europe and the USA are awash with failed restorations, where the next job is always seen as another bit to dismantle. The car is then sold on in bits and the next owner starts with even further dismantling!

So - Looking at the list above, finding the missing parts will be ongoing which takes us to an appraisal of the body - just how good is it?  (note the glass half full approach)

From the A post forward every panel is straight and solid with a
little surface rust here and there.  Some filler around bumper mounting
bolt holes, but bulkhead, wings and headlamp pods are excellent.

Near side shut face pillar is in a pretty bad way, less so on off side.

I suspect that the sills are "fastened" to the B post with filler / bondo
Rear-most inner part of both sills also rusted through.

Bottom 12 inches of tonneau panel perforated - both sides

Rear wings came off with only one cage nut braking out - unbelievable!
Inner wings all good but some "crud" where wing joins tonneau panel.
Sand blasting will doubtless sort the rust from the solid material.
Joining strip will probably need to be replaced.

Bottom edge of rear bulkhead will also need replacing.

Next job - time to start thinking about seperating the body from the chassis, but I need to be certain that it will go back in exactly the same place to maintain the tight panel gaps.




SECOND POST - JANUARY 2011 INTRODUCTIONS & PREPERATIONS

As much as I would like to make an immediate start on this project, the XK140 is occupying the workshop and will not be completed until the end of March. The 120 will stay in my house garage until the 140 emerges from its winter works programme.  Consequently this post relates mainly to three months of very little activity apart from me sitting in the drivers seat, thrashing the bolt action moss box around whilst making the appropriate engine noises.  Seems to go very well though. 

First job on arriving home was to head off a potential divorce and
discover the source of an appalling stench of old paint. 
Turned out to be ancient petrol leaking from a seam on the tank.

Apart from the leaking seem, the tank appeared to be in pretty good
order,  but with lots of muck and residue inside.  The Hartlepool Radiator
Company put it through the RENU process which involved cutting it open,
internal and external blast cleaning, and treating with an USA patented
chemical coating which is guaranteed to be impervious to methanol and
ethanol.  Two of the seven operating scars can be seen on the bottom.

                                

The 140 finally emerges from the workshop at the beginning of April
looking quite splendid having just been painted again.  It only
seemed proper to introduce it to the 120 OTS before they swap places
in the workshop.  This picture begs a humorous caption - any ideas?




KRU600 in his (or her ?) new surroundings and will be here until completion,
scheduled for 16th June 2013 (my next significant birthday in case you were wondering)



 

Seemed sensible to record the official start date - a week later
than planned.  Can't really do with slippage at this early stage.




  


 

FIRST POST - DECEMBER 2010 - TRAILER QUEEN

As the least likely person I could think of to "blog" and never knowingly having visited one, it came as some surprise to conclude that it was probably the ideal medium to fulfil my requirements, specifically:

• To produce a permanent photographic and written record of my 120 OTS restoration.
• Make this available to any one interested in following the project.
• Allow some level of comment and discussion from other owners / enthusiasts.

For those unfamiliar with the workings of this amazing facility (as I was) the most confusing aspect is that the posts are reverse order i.e. the last (most recent) post appears first.  It's a learning curve for me, so the content will hopefully improve with time.
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The following pictures illustrate the condition of 1950 XK120 OTS  Reg KRU600 offered for auction 15th December 2010.  Three owners from new, the first being Mrs V Maitland of Bournemouth who drove it in the Exeter Trial within a few days of taking delivery towards the end of December 1950 - around 60 years to the day of my acquisition from Bolden Auctions near Sunderland.  The previous owner, a Mr Crosby bought the car in May 1965 and quickly embarked on a light restoration including a respray, but first removing the boot lid, bonnet and chrome .  Unfortunately the project stalled and the car was stored in a very small garage which was also home to the central heating boiler of the adjoining bungalow.  This warm dry location I believe prevented any further deterioration.
I understand Mr Crosby was taken into care in 2010 and despite great efforts by relations to discover where the parts previously removed were stored, his memory had failed him.

Looks dreadful but is actually very straight and solid.
No obvious evidence of accident damage.

Nice rare colour combination - Old English White with Cream / Brown trim
Passenger seat squab missing - Anyone out there got one - same colour
and degree of patination?

                                        

Plate agrees with Heritage Certificate.  Chassis # 660295
 but engine # W2142/7 replaced with W3380/8 at some point.

 

Tyres maintained pressure when re inflated - after 45 years !
Boot Lid, Bonnet, Windscreen and bumpers missing.

Head Light Pods were stuffed with News Paper - Sporting Life 2nd April 1966

REPRINT OF ARTICLE FOR XK GAZETTE  FEBRUARY 2011

Lot 309 – Water colour, Bird of Prey.   Lot 310 Jaguar XK120 Roadster.   Lot 311 A Rocking Horse.

As Lot 310 appeared on the TV screen, four members of the Auction Room staff moved into view of the auctioneer, presumably to take phone bids.  Apart from a man in an Arthur Daley Camel Coat and another, the epitome of a car dealer character opposite, every other person in the room looked typical “antique dealer”.   The Auctioneer briefly explained that contrary to the listing, Chassis Number 660295 contained Engine Number  W3380-8 not W2147-7.

The bidding opened at £16,000. 4 minutes later it slowed and stopped at £27,500 and I was the new owner of KRU600 and incredibly I had not reached my final cut off figure.  Did somebody know something I didn’t?  Apparently not, because within an hour of arriving back home, I received a call from the Auctioneer asking if I would like to take an immediate and significant profit from a very well respected top end Southern based Classic Jaguar Specialist who had somehow missed the auction.

 I am sorry you missed it fellas, but if you’re reading this, thanks for the offer.  You made a good day perfect.

This story really starts in December 2007 with the fulfilment of a long term ambition – the purchase of a well worn but very straight XK140FHC. The restoration took me two years and I enjoyed last summer driving around 6,000 miles in the UK and Europe.  After a series of 50’s and 60’s sports cars, the XK was revelation, but a little warm inside in the 36 degree heat of the Le-Mans Classic.  I decided that my next project should be an XK roadster to make the ideal “pension plan” pair. 

KRU600 came up for sale at a Fine Arts Auction at Bolden, County Durham on December 15^th 2010.  Part of a house (and garage) clearance it had been taken of the road in 1966 apparently for a cosmetic makeover.  It looked dreadful, in multi-coloured primer, flat tyres, old masking tape and the head lamp pods still stuffed with 1966 copies of Sporting Life!  For some reason the re-paint stalled and the car had been dry stored ever since.  At some point the bonnet, boot lid, passenger seat squab Windscreen rear lights and Bumpers had been removed and lost.  The previous owner (since 1965), due to illness has no recollection of where they went.  In all other respects it appeared to be remarkably straight and solid, certainly a good deal better (but noticeably less shiny) than my 140 when bought.  

Three days after the auction and we collect the car from Bolden along with a few boxes of assorted bits included in the lot and all part of the same garage clearout.  Mostly scrap except for a pair of Twin Choke 40DCO Webers, a pair of very good Daimler V8250 heads and a new looking or just re-conditioned Laycock overdrive box.  Sorting through a box of air line connectors and masses of spray gun spares, I come across the original bonnet badge which makes the time spent worthwhile.

Closer inspection of the car on a lift reveals a virtually rust free body and chassis and every fastener I’ve so far attempted to undo has given up more or less without a fight.  The body off “nut and bolt” restoration will start in earnest this spring with completion planned for May 2013 just in time for it’s 63^rd birthday and my 65^th.   Birthday presents for the 120 will definitely include the two most beneficial upgrades so far fitted to my 140, a CJ 5 speed (TremecT5) box and front brake upgrade.

If you have some of my missing parts tucked away in your loft and would like to exchange them for cash, then bob@sisnorthern.co.uk would really appreciate an email.

Post Script : The local paper ran a short article about the auction sale which prompted a contact from Mr Fred Gill of Sunderland.  Fred tells me he owned a 1950?? XK120 roadster Reg No CBR 395 from 1955 to around 1980 when he sold it he believes to an Austrian gentleman.  Fred raced the car extensively during his ownership and tells me he has some excellent pictures and also some cine-film of the car in action.  Does David Bentley or anyone else know of its whereabouts?  If so, Fred would love to have an update on the car, which having made it to 1980, must surely still survive.  Any information to me please at the aforementioned email address.