For your interest - a Series 1 XKE 2+2 Convertible
For your interest - a Series 1 XKE 2+2 Convertible
Author
Discussion

mark387mw

Original Poster:

2,205 posts

296 months

Wednesday 2nd August 2017
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This car has just come up for sale in New Zealand and thought I’d share. I’m not interested in buying this, although an E Type is on the wish list.

I’ve not seen a 2+2 converted to a roadster and keep the rear seats. Was it common like this?

advert said:
Very well presented, unique and desirable two plus two classic.

Best colour combination and mechanical package.

This car has undergone a complete, yet older full restoration and presents very well, excellent mechanically with exceptionly tidy interior and soft top.

Paint is very tidy but does have some blemishes on closer inspection ( very hard to photograph, please contact for a walk around description ) all chrome, badges and brightwork are present and in good condition

This is not a concourse car and the price reflects this, but a very tidy usable everyday classic that will bring years of enjoyment to the new owner.

These cars are becoming harder and harder to find in good condition and commonly fetch $200k plus for immaculate examples.

If you factor the restoration cost of $1-200K plus initial cost of purchasing a vehicle you will see this is exceptional value for money for a sought after classic.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/1384086002

The questions and answers give further information. It’s a bitsa car.

q and a said:
I built this car in the 90's, it was a LHD S1 2+2 and I completed a full body and mechanical restoration and converted it to a RHD S1 1/2 LWB 4 seater Roadster using a new S3 bulkhead, Windscreen, top bows, door skins and rear interior panels. It also got new outer sills and S1 bonnet. Switchgear and lights were uprated to S1 1/2. I sewed all the new upholstery and made up the interior using factory materials. Everything was fully restored. Can provide photos of the restoration if RQD.
It was a solid, original, matching number car when I imported and built it. I had to cut the roof off to fit it in the container with the other cars so decided to build it as a usable 2+2 Roadster instead of a 2+2. Someone in England built another one recently but I did this in the 90's. I have owned 23 E Types and rebuilt or restored all but 3 of them. 67XKE was one of the last E Types I built.





lowdrag

13,183 posts

242 months

Wednesday 2nd August 2017
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A 2+2 used the same floor pan as the S3 roadster. so 9" longer than a S1 or S2 roadster or coupé. All of the 9" length was in the doors, and that gave room for a storage box behind the driver and passenger. In this case he has used the space to create two small seats.

Longnose

262 posts

142 months

Wednesday 2nd August 2017
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That's nice. A good attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

RDMcG

20,835 posts

236 months

Wednesday 2nd August 2017
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Longnose said:
That's nice. A good attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Very much agree. To me, the original E Type is one of the most beautiful designs ever, and it was a long way down. By the time these cars arrived it was like Kim Novak's plastic surgery...something once beautiful with only traces of it left.........

Yertis

19,707 posts

295 months

Wednesday 2nd August 2017
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When you say 'these cars' I assume you mean the S3. This is an S-whatever-you-want-it-to-be by the sounds of it.

I like the S3 though. In many ways I prefer it to the earlier cars.

grumpy52

6,055 posts

195 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
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We had a customer present us with what he maintained was a early flat floor external bonnet ĺock etc car manual rhd convertible . He wanted us to fit seat belts into it .
Turned out it started life as a lhd auto 2+2 .
Only managed to convince him it was a bitsa when we showed him the factory records of chassis numbers etc .
Only original parts were probably half the floorpan forward to the front chassis and suspension. The rest was nothing like anything that jaguar built .

mark387mw

Original Poster:

2,205 posts

296 months

Friday 29th September 2017
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This car didn’t sell so relisted.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/1429266900

He wants around £70,000. Anyone care to give a value for such a bitsa.

Lowtimer

4,293 posts

197 months

Friday 29th September 2017
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Values of one-off things in geographically small and remote markets are somewhat illiquid and not really subject to normal market disciplines. Because of its exensive mod state It's not a car that many people in Europe or USA will specifically target as wanting to ship over unseen. So really it's down to him waiting for someone in the small pool of available buyers within striking distance to take a fancy to it,

Of course everything has a "got to be gone today" price at which it's so cheap someone *would* just buy it unseen and take a punt on shipping it over. That is the price that a zero-reserve auction would discover.

But that price would be a long way from what he probably wants, and if he doesn't need the cash urgently then why would he take it? If he did need it gone immediately at any price then an auction is where he woud have gone with it. Presumably he prefers to wait anything from a a few months to a year or two to find a local buyer who actually wants the car for what it is. At least at this stage.

That said, the calculation "If you factor the restoration cost of $1-200K plus initial cost of purchasing a vehicle" is not meaningless, but it does not necessarily drive prices. It can do, with the right buyer, but usually only if it reproduces exactly something that the buyer would otherwise be entertaining doing themselves.

Edited by Lowtimer on Friday 29th September 09:29

lowdrag

13,183 posts

242 months

Friday 29th September 2017
quotequote all
Sadly, now can't be registered in the UK it seems, unless the DVLA give it a 17 digit VIN plate, take away the Jaguar chassis number, and then it gets stuck on a Q plate with annual road tax.

Lowtimer

4,293 posts

197 months

Friday 29th September 2017
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Yes, that is a good point. And beng RHD limits its appeal in the USA.

mark387mw

Original Poster:

2,205 posts

296 months

Friday 29th September 2017
quotequote all
With rise of E-type values, I was wondering if this had been devalued somewhat as likely it's no longer valuable or attractive. Anywhere.

Lowtimer

4,293 posts

197 months

Friday 29th September 2017
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It is a reliable rule of thumb that heavily (i.e. irreversably) modified cars don't bring back the money spent to modify them. The only real exceptions are the creations of specific highly reputed companies, like Lynx, Eagle, Singer and so on, which over time have developed their own reputations.

But this isn't one of those.

Assuming it's all straight and non-rusty and mechanically fit, then it's a nice car to drive around New Zealand. It's not really relevant to the collector market but that doesn't stop it being a fun thing to own and drive. What it will fetch financially depends on who in New Zealand wants a convertible E-Type to drive and isn't bothered about its lack of originality. If I lived in NZ I'd probably go round to look at it. You could make a decent case that it's worth about the same as it was when it was a 2+2. But it's worth what it's worth as a recreational plaything to a specific individual buyer who likes it, and who may take time to emerge. Not on the basis of some notion of "the market". It's no longer part of the mainstream E-Type market except as a source of parts, and assuming it's all in good order and drives nicely it would probably be a bit sad to break it for parts.



Edited by Lowtimer on Friday 29th September 11:53

mark387mw

Original Poster:

2,205 posts

296 months

Saturday 30th September 2017
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Possibly the better option at £85,000. http://www.bains.co.nz/listing/1974-jaguar-e-type-...
Both cars mentioned are unfortunately over my budget.

(I remember when they were £8,000 and I could only afford a Lotus Europa at £3,000. When I could afford £8,000 they were £15,000 and so it went on until beyond my means.)

TR4man

5,526 posts

203 months

Saturday 30th September 2017
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mark387mw said:
(I remember when they were £8,000 and I could only afford a Lotus Europa at £3,000. When I could afford £8,000 they were £15,000 and so it went on until beyond my means.)
Yes, I can remember when a member of our local TR group bought a nice S2 roadster for £11k. He got so much stick as we couldn't believe that he'd spent so much on an E Type. We all reckoned he'd been taken for a ride and would never get his money back!