2005-07-28 07:56:02 | pauls writes:

Ebay item 7/28/05
cgi.ebay.com/JAGUAR-E-TYPE-SERIES-1-3-8-FHC-1962-LHD-PROJECT_W0QQitemZ4563543165
Current bid GBP 5,800, 16 bids, 3 days left in auction.

Sellers description:
Offered with no reserve (therefore the price at which it will be purchased will reflect its true market value rather than any wishful thinking on my behalf), you have the opportunity to bid on my 1962 Series 1 - 3.8 litre FHC E-Type Jaguar that my farther and I have been looking at and fiddling around with for around fifteen years. It was imported from sunny dry California and I am the only owner in the log book (V5) which is of the modern current type. Being a 1962 car it is complete with a pre-prefix style number plate “859 UXL”.

The original (and current) colour which is supported by its heritage certificate is “Opalescent Dark Green” (which is like a metallic British Racing Green) and the interior was “Beige”.

During this period available funds have coincided with passion and excitement on a number of occasions although the purpose of these points of activity was never to actually finish the car (although this was always a distant underlining goal) but rather to focus on one defined aspect and complete that – it was after all supposed to be a fun project approached as a series of interrelated tasks rather than a flat out sprint. Unfortunately it has all taken so long that I have just lost the interest to continue.

The result of all this work is that it has benefited from;

§ A new engine – showing excellent oil pressure

§ All new brakes in full working order

§ All new wiring and end connectors

§ All new suspension

§ New Stainless steel exhaust

§ New Radiator

§ New Header tank

§ New starter motor

§ New Water Pump + lots and lots of other ancillary items

§ Complete bare metal re-spray

However, this work has taken so long (it was sometimes years before one job was finished and another started) that although all the parts were new (not reconditioned) unless you know and understand what you are looking at they all look dulled again; they do however all still work perfectly (they have after all never been used). In many ways the best analogy I can give you regarding its mechanical condition is if you try to imagine a new car going down a production line but that the factory closes before it gets to the end and then the building is left for about ten years. Basically all the internals of the brakes, engine and suspension etc. are as fully lubricated and operational as they were when new but the exterior casings just look dulled, even though they don’t look ‘tired’; which is all a little depressing given the time and money that has gone into it.

Just so there is no confusion here the mechanical condition of the engine and all the components is excellent. If you come to view the car and bring a suitable fuel supply you will be able to here it running and see the oil pressure gauge rise and sustain pressure just like it is supposed to. Also if you take the time to un-screw the spark plugs you will see that the piston tops are silver and shiny, as is the interior of the cam cover.

As you will also see from the pictures the bonnet and doors all fit well and there are no bubbles, scratches or areas of flaking rust etc.. (it has after all never been used since it was re-sprayed even if this was a while ago).

The bad news
§ As mentioned above all the once shiny polished surfaces have long since dulled and tarnished

§ The car is not complete and is almost totally missing its interior as well as some other parts – all the parts I have are in the pictures you will find through the links below. However this does mean that if you wanted to make this Right Hand Drive it would not cost significantly more to do this.

§ The ‘long’ term plan with this car was not to win shows but to have a car with which we could compete in classic rally and race type events, we did not expect to win them, but simply to be able to finish them and have had a nice time with not too much trouble in the process. Therefore while the paint-work is perfectly acceptable in the eyes of 99% of the population being very shiny and rust free (and above all finished) you would not under any circumstances be winning any concourse competitions unless you started again as the standard required to win these events is incredibly high being better then that of the original cars when they left the factory. Having said that it is in my opinion much better then most of the cars you see at the provisional shows which people actually use; basically if your aim is to win shows then I strongly suggest you buy a car that is currently winning them for around £35,000 and then never under any circumstances use it thereby saving yourself all the work and inevitable disappointment.

Thank you for reading my description from which I hope you will have gathered that this is a car requiring no more specialist work in the body or mechanicals as these are essentially ‘done’. Therefore all that is required to enjoy this car once more is fully within the capabilities of anyone with the time and passion to obtain the various interior parts and simply bolt things back in. Given time and patience using ebay and the auto-jumbles I suspect this could be done with very little additional expense.

2005-10-28 23:35:23 | Lofty writes:

This car was the source of some confusion, as the serial was based solely on that blurry photo of the build sheet. We're only 50% confident that it is 885858--it's definitely not 885853!

2005-10-29 09:57:02 | Mike Powers writes:

This is NOT the car you think it is. 885858 currently resides in the Netherlands . I was in contact with its owner on Oct 5. Owner is Hans Hubbeling. Posting incorrect information is counter-productive to the community and XKE DATA in my opinion. Alas, I am not associated with XKE DATA but use it a great deal to check the accuracy of my data.

Cheers, Mike.

2005-10-29 10:17:34 | mike writes:

I forgot. The correct build date per JDHT Cert. for 885858 is March 28. Maybe the information above can be corrected somewhat.

2005-10-29 11:05:24 | Mike writes:

Lofty it appears now that you are correct with respect to the Vin #. This is based on the engine # that I have on file and have not yet published. It is a match. Only discrepancy is the cars current location and the build date. This threw me for a bit. Sorry. One of my limitations is not being able to file cross reference photos. I have others. 8>)
Cheers, Mike

2005-10-29 16:01:36 | Steven D. writes:

Mike:
If you have had information about this "other" 885858 in the Netherlands, why did you not enter it here at xkedata.com? Why do we have to find out about data you have that we don't only AFTER a problem like this occurs?
--
site co-admin, voluteer

2006-06-25 10:16:11 | Axel Persoons writes:

Hi Steven,
It is off course not up to Mike to post every single car he has records of on xkedata, as it are more than a few thousand (jaguarlinks.com) and in my eyes, he came up with the info at the right time,

Kind Regards,
Axel Persoons

2010-09-18 16:15:32 | Peter writes:

Car has been stripped by previous owner for engine, gearbox and all other mechanical & trim parts. Trying to collect all the parts to rebuilt it into a usable driver.

2015-09-23 15:00:46 | John S writes:

Axel your link of jaguar links appears to have been hacked by a porn site and links. This is no place for porn links. Hopefully your link will be repaired or deleted.