1961 Jaguar E type convertible restoration

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Back in 2012 I purchased a relatively rare Jaguar E type. Rare because it was built in Dec 61 a little before the factory had fully productionised the E type. This meant it has features such as welded in louvres in the bonnet (cars after the Christmas Holiday and factory strike had the lourves pressed in). It also has flat floors which continued a little while longer and other unique features.

The car was in New York most of its life and had a long term owner who sold it to me upon retirement. I live in Abu Dhabi in the UAE and imported the car from the USA to Abu Dhabi.The car had received some limited restoration and I drove it for a year but knew it would need a proper restoration. With prices rising it soon became justifiable to carry out a full nut and bolt resto.

Having visited and spoken to a number of specialists I decided upon using a small family concern in the UK called RH Classics. With a good reputation, a caring and responsive attitude and expertise in Jaguars I felt they were the perfect choice. In addition they understood what I wanted to achieve with the car. The word concours is used alot. I hope to achieve somewhere near that but not be afraid to use the car. For me preservation of as much factory material as possible, use of the best available panels for replacement and careful attention to unique 61 features and finally excellent panel fit mean everything..

Here are some pics upon acquisition..




Welded Louvres

Edited by Paracetamol on Sunday 5th March 06:06

Edited by Paracetamol on Friday 14th April 15:12

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I decided to undertake some exploratory work. Always aware the car was not a restored car but a daily driver I was not too surprised to find...

Edited by Paracetamol on Friday 21st October 19:20

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So off the car went from Abu Dhabi in the UAE..all the way to the UK..

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Strip down begins in the UK..April 2016

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Strip down continued

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Car goes for dipping to remove all paint etc...some "interesting" previous repairs..some people are wary of the dipping proccess but RH Classics stand by it

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Engine had been recenty rebuilt but swarf was left inside and picked up on the shells (Bloomin american mechanics!)..othewise the engine is in great shape.

Edited by Paracetamol on Friday 26th August 19:26

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Repairs begin to the floors and sills

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Panel gaps and door fit already looking great (without any finishing as yet)..

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The car had suffered a rear end shunt at some stage in its life



Expertly repaired this time!!

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And that's the story as at Aug 2016..Great progress for 4 months and expected to be completed in April 2017

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lowdrag said:

Now are you going for a concours or a useable restoration? If the former there are a significant amount of parts you'll have a devil of a job to find.

Good question. Somewhere in between. I have seen useable cars that have underseal and not great fit and finish. I want to to great finishes and perfect gaps and panel fit, etc but will not be too bothered if the rear number plate lamps are not marked 'Butler' or each spotweld is not exactly spaced. A number of the unique features such as metal insert steering wheel, clamps, marked bolts etc are still intact on the car. Even the radiator is the original aluminum finned type (though will not be used as its too old to take a risk with).

So no...I have no intention to enter it into a concours event etc but I do want it to be built to a better standard then it probably was when new..

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parabolica said:

Good luck. Those photos make me want to re-watch A Car Is Reborn again, if only I could find it somewhere.

HA..great minds...I just bought a copy from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Car-Reborn-Jaguar-DVD/dp/...


Only 8 gbp...

Edited by Paracetamol on Saturday 27th August 14:09

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lowdrag said:

Paracetamol said:

Good question. Somewhere in between. I have seen useable cars that have underseal and not great fit and finish. I want to to great finishes and perfect gaps and panel fit, etc but will not be too bothered if the rear number plate lamps are not marked 'Butler' or each spotweld is not exactly spaced. A number of the unique features such as metal insert steering wheel, clamps, marked bolts etc are still intact on the car. Even the radiator is the original aluminum finned type (though will not be used as its too old to take a risk with).

So no...I have no intention to enter it into a concours event etc but I do want it to be built to a better standard then it probably was when new..in

Good reply. I bought the finned radiator from Welsh at £800, far cheaper than in the UK. I would go for a Coolcat fan too, my engine was rebuilt superbly by VSE at not too expensive a price and I have a special paint underneath that looks the part but is stone chip resistant. I spent - sorry, wasted - money converting the radio to FM and it doesn't work properly at all. And so it goes. Could I suggest painted wires? Far more in keeping I feel. If I can be of help pm me.

ETA and for goodness's sake get your A-frames from Uryk. The only place to go.

Edited by lowdrag on Saturday 27th August 14:15

Thanks. Yes. I am going for painted wires with period tyres and also keeping the chromes with modern radials as I love the looks. Will swap for time to time to remind me why I love the chromes

RH Classics are being very selective over where they buy panels etc. From experience they have seen problems from some of the 'household' names in terms of quality etc. This week they will be using a special camera to ascertain the condition of the frames. They did mention a particular source for the frames.

Also I have asked them to update things like the generator and ignition system to modern types but with retention of old casings. I am also keen to try the new exhaust from Jaguar Heritage.

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lowdrag said:

Going the right way for a reliable useable car then? Coopercraft or Zeus brakes surely, E-type Fabs A-frame, 123 dizzy,new "Dynatator" which can use the existing dynamo case. It'll have the correct 1961 on it then. But one think you probably haven't thought about is the rear axle ratio. Like mine, your's will have a 3.31 early ratio which gives 70 mph at 3000 rpm. I'd suggest a change to a 3.07 which will give more relaxed cruising. I assume you'll go negative earth?

The car was already modified and drove very well before the restoration.

Its already negative earth with an alternator. I will keep it the same but use a more discreet alternator that fits in a Dyno body

It has 4.2 brakes (callipers and master cyl) but I want to replace the master cyl back to 3.8. RH View is that if its well set up then the originals are fine..but we can change callipers if I am not happy.

Rear Axle..thats a tough one. I really don't know what my motoring will be with the car. How big a job is it to convert the axle. I think its already been stripped and rebuilt but

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Here is the certificate which shows the original colour and the one to which I am staying..

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The main shell is almost now complete...lovely to see lead loading techniques being used (see pic 4).frames and bonnet next..

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Good news..the restorers just checked the front frames with their camera and found them to be in perfect order from the inside. Their preference is to keep them for the sake of originality and also knowing that they fit to the bonnet etc...

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Thanks!

The updates from the garage have been a little slow...which is a relief given that there is usually large bill attached.

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In case you wondered how the rear suspension and brakes of an E Type work....5k worth of parts and labour (yikes!)