XK120 banger racing!

[a8hex]

MGB Boy said:

If you even look at a Mk 1 Escort we will all chip in for a hitman

Look if he can take an XK out there what chance an Escort

[RetroCosworth]

plonker751 said:

MGB Boy said:

If you even look at a Mk 1 Escort we will all chip in for a hitman

nah, no good for racing lol, cant fit a granada 2.8 lump in one easy enough lol, got a nice hilman hunter though for a months time

I thought you were avoiding classics?

[williamp]

I'd still like to see the XK150 after the event

[MGB Boy]

plonker751 said:

MGB Boy said:

I don't have a problem with you (hope I'm not coming across like that) you seem like a decent bloke with 'misguided' vehicle choices for the circumstances.
I can only hope in future you wont be using any more classics?

sorry mate, last comment wasnt directed at you, was talking to retro cosworth, hope i aint caused any offence mate, cant say that im not going to be using any more classics though, as ive got another one lined up, but this one really is far past restorable, most likely still get abuse for it though
Cheers

[RetroCosworth]

MGB Boy said:

plonker751 said:

MGB Boy said:

I don't have a problem with you (hope I'm not coming across like that) you seem like a decent bloke with 'misguided' vehicle choices for the circumstances.
I can only hope in future you wont be using any more classics?

sorry mate, last comment wasnt directed at you, was talking to retro cosworth, hope i aint caused any offence mate, cant say that im not going to be using any more classics though, as ive got another one lined up, but this one really is far past restorable, most likely still get abuse for it though
Cheers

I could find him a substitute

[plonker751]

RetroCosworth said:

plonker751 said:

MGB Boy said:

If you even look at a Mk 1 Escort we will all chip in for a hitman

nah, no good for racing lol, cant fit a granada 2.8 lump in one easy enough lol, got a nice hilman hunter though for a months time

I thought you were avoiding classics?

when did i say i was avoiding classics mate?
If an old 's***er comes along which is too far gone for the road, like the jag!, then ill race it, simple as, what alot of classic car people cant understand is the amount of work we 'pikeys' have to put into the cars just to get them race worthy, if the jag was going back on the road, id be willing to bet my raceing career that it still wouldnt of had the roof welded back on as restorers never seem t pull there finger out and only do like one bolt every year! When i build a banger ive sometimes spent all damn night up the yard just to et the car ready, 1st time i raced, was a rover 214, started working on it saturday afternoon for racing the next day, didnt stop till i got too the track!
So ask yourself this, if us 'pikeys' put this amount of work into the car to just get it raceable, is it really worth saving! The jag was a write off, end of, wings were good and thats bout it body wise, rest was missing. I think its just people havin a moan because they wern offered the car 1st, tough! A banger driver got it, put a bloody lot of wwork into the jag and had an excellent day racing the thing! The cars already been provisionally sold afterwards anyways so it WILL live on so were not wasting it completely! Dont really hear about classic car 'lovers' moaning about old cars laid up in drive ways until a banger drivers knocks on the door,gives the owner £50 for a 'classic' as you like to call it and race it! Simple answer to that 'probem' GO AND ASK FIRST! instead of bhing about it afterwards.
Im not directing this at you mate, as even though weve had our disagreements, you seem like a good bloke, but im abit wound up now as i new i was gonna get people moaning about it, but i think the abusive messagees ive been getting are well over the top! They can speak the talk behind a computer screen, but none have the guts to come an say it too my face and thats whats really p****d me off over the last few days! My car, my money, ill do what i want!

[Gallen]

I can appreciate the work you put in to it to get it ready for racing. No one can dispute that... but for me, this sums it up:

plonker751 said:

I think its just people havin a moan because they wern offered the car 1st, tough! A banger driver got it, put a bloody lot of wwork into the jag and had an excellent day racing the thing! ......... My car, my money, ill do what i want!

Glad you had a nice day!

Sadly, one day there will be no classics left to find and restore. Pretty much any XK is worth restoring, or at least keeping safe until it is. If you can find a log book from a non-existant XK then another back on the road.

Just my 2p's worth.

Nothing against you in person, but to me it just sounds crazy to banger race such a car.

I've been on a few sites and it horrors me to see what you guys are eyeing up for racing.

But yep, your money and your car so you do get to decide ultimately, which is your choice but to me a sad one.

Edited by Gallen on Thursday 15th July 22:00

[plonker751]

Gallen said:

I can appreciate the work you put in to it to get it ready for racing. No one can dispute that... but for me, this sums it up:

plonker751 said:

I think its just people havin a moan because they wern offered the car 1st, tough! A banger driver got it, put a bloody lot of wwork into the jag and had an excellent day racing the thing! ......... My car, my money, ill do what i want!

Glad you had a nice day!

Sadly, one day there will be no classics left to find and restore. Pretty much any XK is worth restoring, or at least keeping safe until it is. If you can find a log book from a non-existant XK then another back on the road.

Just my 2p's worth.

Nothing against you in person, but to me it just sounds crazy to banger race such a car.

I've been on a few sites and it horrors me to see what you guys are eyeing up for racing.

But yep, your money and your car so you do get to decide ultimately, which is your choice but to me a sad one.

Edited by Gallen on Thursday 15th July 22:00

Thats fine mate, your opinion, but just out of interest, answer me this question, if it 'horrors' you what us guys are eyeing iup for racing, then why not buy it first if it botheres you that much. Banger racing is a budget sport with the occasional big expense being thrown in, this jag for instance, £495 was spent on just the paint alone!, but alot of the time its luck and perserverance, going out, and just looking round for sometimes days on end for cars and sometimes we find somthing unusual or rare laid up in a garden. Or theres somthing rare on te ebay. But ive heard it all too many tmes when classic car owners refuse to buy somthing as its to exppensive in there opinion, then a banger driver snaps it, then the moaning starts again, in my opinion, if you dont want to pay the price for the car then you loose the right to moan about what happens to said car when someoneelse buys it.

[jagman21]

this was my point, pretty much all the car is available almost off the shelf, RS panels, leaping cats and contour autocraft all have jigs ready to build brand new body's possibly better then the orginals.

you can even buy replacement chassis off ebay these days

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jaguar-xk150-xk-150-CHASSIS-...

so hopefully this car finds its identity, and eventually enough parts can pass on to a "new-old" car. I don't see anything wrong with that most cars that get restored these day don't have much of the original car left anyway, rust and wear and tear over the years does most the damage, this car will eventually die (perhaps not a natural death), but hopefully it can be resurected someday.

deep pockets will be required and generous amount of time too.

[a8hex]

jagman21 said:

this car will eventually die (perhaps not a natural death), but hopefully it can be resurected someday.

deep pockets will be required and generous amount of time too.

This car has already been shorn of its ID.
Also I would be very surprised if anyone would build a new XK150FHC from the ground up. A DHC or OTS perhaps. Maybe a 3.8S FHC if they thought they could get away with resurrecting the ID of handful of originals, but most of them have know histories.

With this car, the engine will be wanted again, if it survives. Not sure if the box has OD, that might be useful. If the POWR-LOK diff doesn't get side swiped then someone will be very happy to find that. Then lots of smaller hard to find parts will be gratefully received by someone.

But this XK isn't coming back.

PS. Plonker, you do know that the steering column on this car isn't collapsible. I guess so if you done this with other old cars, maybe the speeds involved aren't great enough to worry I don't know. But the steering column is basically a straight piece of metal pointing square at your heart. I hate to hear you'd been hit by it.

[Phil5343]

Hmmm...Ive read all this and have mixed Opinions on it...but theres one thing i dont understand.

You say that if it Horrors/shocks everyone so much they should have bought it first and thats a fair point - but it wasnt advertised was it....and you didnt advertise it when you found it. So to be fair, no-one had the chance to rescue it did they!

So i dont really think you can say...if you dont like it you should have saved it...no-one knew about it!

Im willing to bet there would be a number of people who'd have snatched your hand off, who would have loved to take a project like this on!

At the end of the day though, it happens. Im sure theres others hiding in barns and garages...if we want them to be saved, lets do what they do and get looking. You only need to watch some of the old YouTube videos of Jaguar banger Racing and there are hundreds of 420's, Mk2's, Mk10's even some MK7's and 9's. No-one batted an eyelid then...as it was considered normal.

Im not condoneing it, or saying that i personally agree with it...but i sure bet it wwas a good sight to see having a good race round!

[Gallen]

plonker751 said:

Thats fine mate, your opinion, but just out of interest, answer me this question, if it 'horrors' you what us guys are eyeing iup for racing, then why not buy it first if it botheres you that much.

I would have, and I'd have been prepared to pay a lot more than you did!

Personally, I dont hate you for doing what you did!
But for people like me - real car enthusiasts - who look every day very hard for cars like that, it's so frustrating to hear of wantless destruction of something that's lasted so long.

Edited by Gallen on Friday 16th July 11:20

[a8hex]

Phil5343 said:

Hmmm...Ive read all this and have mixed Opinions on it...but theres one thing i dont understand.

You say that if it Horrors/shocks everyone so much they should have bought it first and thats a fair point - but it wasnt advertised was it....and you didnt advertise it when you found it. So to be fair, no-one had the chance to rescue it did they!

So i dont really think you can say...if you dont like it you should have saved it...no-one knew about it!

Im willing to bet there would be a number of people who'd have snatched your hand off, who would have loved to take a project like this on!

It seems the previous owner in this case wanted to the car destroyed and would not sell it for renovation. As I understood one of Plonkers earlier posts, his friends who first saw the car offered to buy it whole rather than to cut it up (and the car was whole at this point), but the owner was not interested. This is the bit I don't understand.

[Phil5343]

True...but you have to wonder...If they'd bought it whole would it just have been raced anyway? It would have saved the hundreds spent on paint and making doors etc...just race a complete car??

[a8hex]

The fact that they offered the guy 10 times what he was asking for, if they didn't have to cut it up, suggests that they had some idea what it was worth.

[RetroCosworth]

Gallen said:

I can appreciate the work you put in to it to get it ready for racing. No one can dispute that... but for me, this sums it up:

plonker751 said:

I think its just people havin a moan because they wern offered the car 1st, tough! A banger driver got it, put a bloody lot of wwork into the jag and had an excellent day racing the thing! ......... My car, my money, ill do what i want!

Glad you had a nice day!

Sadly, one day there will be no classics left to find and restore. Pretty much any XK is worth restoring, or at least keeping safe until it is. If you can find a log book from a non-existant XK then another back on the road.

Just my 2p's worth.

Nothing against you in person, but to me it just sounds crazy to banger race such a car.

I've been on a few sites and it horrors me to see what you guys are eyeing up for racing.

That's what I've been trying to say the whole time.

Thanks for explaining my point for me

[Andy 308GTB]

I personally think this car's identity has been used for some other purpose - presumably not 100% kosher, hence the owners request that it be made beyond economically viable repair, before it was taken away. Which it was, once the roof had been removed but mainly because the i.d. had been removed and the log book was not with the vehicle.

All parties knew the value of this car had the roof been left intact. It has been stated that the owner had a collection of cars i.e. he knows his cars and the market. Had he wanted to realise the full value of the car he would not have contacted the guys he did. He actually wanted or needed the car to be crushed/scrapped. Taking it banger racing made no difference to the end result.

The refusal of Plonker to sell the wings and panels was his choice, as has been stated they are available elsewhere - not selling them was a financial decision by Plonker, they are not items of national/historic interest.

[plonker751]

Wen knew full well what the car was worth, and if we had got the car whole, we would NOT of raced it as we would have sold it nd bought a load of mk1-2 granada's . Iwasnt refering to this car when i said buy it 1st as it waws just offered to us, im on about the cars that get laid up, classic car people dont ask for them, but then moan when i banger driver does, dont think thats fair in myopinion. And to the steering column comment, yep, i do no its a straight, solid bit of metal, us banger drivers prefer that, as in a crash its less likely the column snapping so we can drive off again, ive had a column it me in the chest before and it bloody hurts! And also one hit me hard enough in the crash helmet it broke the visor!
The car does have overdrive, and you'll be surprised about whats useable after, weve rigged up an oil pressure gauge and tempreture gauge so we no when its getting too hot, as we dont wanna blow it up, it doesnt have a power lock diff like we thought, but weve already sold the shell and axle after weve raced it anyway. Any other bits peopel are after, just ask on here, i dontt bite, and ill be more than happy to look at out limited stock for it, all the dash including dials etc are here, in good condition, front and rear windows, think weve got rear quarter lights im not sure etc etc.

[RW774]

Just how many historic , important cars are actually fakes. A very high % are ringers. There is a C at the Blenhiem Palace auction which was at one time, passed off the genuine article. It has a reserve now of £150k, be interested to see the hammer price.I remember Brian Lister being introduced to a lister restorer."Ah yes" said Brian, "I Know the name, you`ve created more Lister cars than I did.!"
Another colleague, had built a Riley Special, based on some particlar 30s model back in the 60s. The same car came up at a show, the colleague had shown a great deal of interest in it, having built it. The owner convinced the my colleague the car was the real thing built by the factory, which of course it was not. The last surviving of only 6 built or some such.
The fool and his money are easily parted it seems. The guy had paid absolutely top top money for it, my colleague knew every inch of the body and the owner flatly refused to talk with him.

[Elderly]

RW774 said:

Just how many historic , important cars are actually fakes........
....... Another colleague, had built a Riley Special, based on some particlar 30s model back in the 60s. The same car came up at a show, the colleague had shown a great deal of interest in it, having built it. The owner convinced the my colleague the car was the real thing built by the factory, which of course it was not. The last surviving of only 6 built or some such.
The fool and his money are easily parted it seems. The guy had paid absolutely top top money for it, my colleague knew every inch of the body and the owner flatly refused to talk with him.

Look here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... this at Le Mans Classic, owner on here?

It appears that even PH's own Garlick and RacingPete were lied to and maybe taken in.