Recently inherited this (pictures included), full assortment of parts, and stripped down unibody. The array of parts not pictured, such as the instruments, and the rest of the hardware, are all organized and tagged in boxes nearby. Aside from the body, which seems to have a lot of rust, mostly around the sides and end of the underside, the additional parts are in good shape, as everything has been stored inside for about the past 30 years. Prior to that, and before being disassembled, it was in a barn in the midwest for 20 or so years. Is the body pictured here worth my time, or would I benefit more from just turning it into scrap? Determining this is going to dictate which direction I take with this... attempt a restoration, or part out what I can. Thanks for any input!

 

It depends who is doing the body work and how much you like the car.
Personally I don't like the Mark I body compared to the Mark II, so I would scrap it and sell off the bits.

If you like the Mark I body and you can weld and do body work, then go for it, don't expect to recoup your time and labour if you sell it.
I didn't mention restoring the interior or rebuilding the engine and other mechanical bits, I'm going to assume that you can do those things yourself.
If you can't, then you will need a wheel barrel full of money.

 

What a negative attitude that is Jeff! Yes it takes money but I have seen Mk1s for as little as £20k for good cars and as much as £60k fully restored. Besides they are not making them anymore so why through away the chance to save one. Someone out there will take the restoration on rather than scrap it and part out the bits.

As you have inherited the car and all the pieces are there you are not into it for anything at the moment so spending £10 to £20k rebuilding it and you are always going to be in with an asset. The amount you spend on the restoration is down to how much you can do yourself. I spent £6 on restoring my S Type which I bought for £4500 but did all the work myself over 16 months. Start parting the work out and expect to spend four times that amount
All the body panels are available for the car and my one tip is don't try and patch up a hole when you can cut the whole section out and lay a new panel into place. Personally I would try and restore the old girl. It looks a lot worse than it actually is.

 

The MK-1. Is a very desirable car. It was the First modern small saloon monocoque body from Jaguar.

​​​​​​There are collectors looking for them, selling it as a project car should be no problem.

I prefer the door styling of the MK-1.

don't give it away cheap, there are lots of valuable parts.

 

Hey Cass
I like to say a more of a realistic point of view.
If the OP likes the car, then he should go for it pending on how deep his pockets are and his skill sets.

The OP also asked, "is it worth it", and the answer to that is no, very few cars are worth more then the labour it takes to restore them. (strictly talking profit here)

 

Mk1's can be built into very desirable cars with widened rear track & mini spat. I prefer the greater glass area of a Mk2 & better C pillar treatment but nevertheless the Mk1 is treasured by many with the money to restore one properly. All Jaguar restorations are difficult to justify other than some E Types on a purely financial basis.

Nice car with a set of racing wires fitted. I prefer the rear bumper wrap around on the Mk1 a yours is a wide grill model. Also nice.

 

You see this is where I am in two minds. That of the seller who obviously wants to get the best price for his wreck. He thinks the car is worth a lot of money but this is only after the rebuild which could take years to complete and thousands of pounds in parts.
Then you have the buyers angle where he sees a wreck with great potential, knows he is going to have to puts hours, months or years into the rebuild and several thousands of pounds so he wants it at a cheap price.

Which person is in the right to put a price on the wreck. The person who is putting nothing in and is just going to make a profit on the sale, possibly the person who allowed this classic collectors car get into the wreck it is now or the person who is looking for a cheap classic wreck with the knowledge, skills, finance and passion to bring this classic back to life and make a profit if he was to sell it once he has paid out thousands to restore it.

How many of us know of a classic car prime for a rebuild sat in a garage, barn, workshop or someone's front garden but the owner will either not sell as one day he might do it himself or the owner when approached wants 20K for his wreck that even when finished is not going to be worth more than 25k. I know of at least five in my area.

 

Yes ~ the person that is going to do a ground up restoration anyway wants to find the cheapest complete car possible with a decent shell. Most really decent shells come from hot, dry countries/provinces/states. Overpriced intermediate cars in reasonable order are not for the true restorer. You need to get them cheap. I paid GBP 550 for my complete & totally rust free S Type ~ albeit over 30 years ago after a long search. You are going to redo the entire car in any case. I consider that I paid at the high end but I wanted that rust free shell & compared with pricing of new cars at the time & Jag parts it was a steal.

 

doesn't look like a wreck, just a disassembled car, typical rust at the rocker panels and for a really old car, the floor looks quite solid, though the underside is unseen. Best to mount it on a rottisserie for an inspection to decide if it is worth restoring.

 

They are always worth restoring but at what cost. There are some I know who have spent £50k on a restoration of a car which when complete even in concours condition is only worth £30k. Normally in this case there is a bit of sentiment thrown in, Dads car, My first car, always wanted one, stupidity as well.
No restoration is Impossible there are just varying degrees of affordability.

 

well Cass, that car has your name all over it. If anyone can undertake a restoration, it would be you.

By the way, I went to the storage to raise the S type and someone had parked a trailer in front of my door, could hardly maneuver myself in. I tried to get it towed but the manager had to authorize it and on sundays the office is closed. The ******* showed up at 1:30 pm by which time it had started to rain. Will try again later.

​​​

 

One also has to be careful of paying too much for so-called restored cars that just look pretty. Many say buy a car that some other bloke has taken all the pain on and get it for less than it has cost him. But buyer beware ~ caveat emptor. There are very few properly restored cars out there.They have just been made to look pretty but not restored. Better the devil you know & have personally worked on or supervised. Then you know what you have.

The only proper restoration starts with a media blasted shell and then every item restored/repaired/replated/repainted whether you can see it or not. I'm always amused at restoration photos that show that the interior of the shell has not been repainted & door shells not repainted because they are covered by the door cards. or you look behind the dash & it looks like a 50 or 60 year old car, & the underbody has just been sprayed with black stonechip/3M Schutz that covers a million sins. Or new carpets are being fitted over a rusted floor, or tacky instruments in re lacquered wood, tacky engine compartments that have not been repainted but with polished cam covers etc. etc. and the list goes on & on. Those are not restored cars & you can buy & real pig in a poke that someone has just applied lipstick to. It's the attention to detail that matters. Both mechanically & cosmetically.

 

Restore it or sell it to someone else who will. Don't scrap it. And don't break it unless the body is so far gone as to have nothing left to weld to. Even then, somewhere there may be a body and no mechanicals and a happy marriage can be made.

Is it 'worth' restoring it? Financially, almost certainly not, at least not in the short term. However, if you enjoy the work, if you have a passion for the car, then it is worth it ten times over.

Restoration followed by ten years of good maintenance can pay you back. Many bought a Mk1 or 2 a few decades ago for very little, spent say £/$/..15k on restoration (parts and labour were cheaper then), had a load of fun, and now have a car worth twice what they paid. Of course, if those decades ago they spent £/$ 15k on a new Ford **, they would have had none of the fun, suffered 15k of depreciation and perhaps have a few regrets.

 

Went to look at a Mk2 for a friend of mine in 2014. Pictures of the car looked really good and the description was that the car had been completely restored. When we got there having just restored my S Type I got down to look at all the areas where I know rust can be found. This Mk2 was rotten. The fronts of the sills under the A pillar were just crumbling in my hands and I had to stop poking around because I was causing too much damage. They guy had a portfolio of photos showing the restoration which we looked at. I took one of the photos out of the folder and turned it over and it had the date on the back. 1990........ The guy had advertised the car as fully restored but the restoration was 24 years previous.

 

Cass, you're right. The restoration has to be good and the car has be taken care of afterwards especially in terms of holding back rust. And I can say that on the basis of good and bad experience with my Mk2 and DD6.

 

My Mark1 is in the same shape, except rockers are whole on mine. Just purchased $1800 of patch panels from Martin Robey. Seems prices ae steady on good quality original cars that I will be able to do a full restoration under sales prices. My big expense will be interior at $5000 for kit in color. but, looking at leather prices and industrial sewing machine and time to see if making interior is an option. Also, have to visit a local chrome shop to see pricing. I have had the car 34 yrs and finally getting to it. Have a second to tear down for spares.

 

Yep! It's not that difficult to spray all sills, box members, doors etc. full of Tectyl. My car is plastered with it.

 

contact LSeats in Canada for made-in-china seat covers in either leather or vinyl at super low prices around $350. for front seats and less for rear.

I have heard the quality is very good for the money. XJ-6 owners are pleased.

I know many of you don't care
for chinese products but my opinion is different. They are manufacturing quality products.

 

The Chinese are capable of doing anything and doing it well, it's finding a good source that's the problem.
If LSeats does a good job, I would have nothing against them.

 

Mechanical and electrical work is something I can enjoy. Body work and welding is completely new to me. It's a tough call. I've gotta say I've had a lot of dreams about the enjoyment this car will bring when running and polished. My favorite detail is the wood panelling. Safe to say, scrapping the body is out of the question. That question has been answered. Finding a good home for the MK1 is the direction I see myself headed, as the time commitment is more than I may be able to manage.