I have a couple of MK2 color questions.


1. Was the engine room black or same as car.


2. Is there a way to find out what color a car was from new.


Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on these subjects.

 

since noone has answered I will venture a guess:

the engine bay is always painted the same color as the rest of the body at the factory.

you can order a JDHT Certificate from the Jaguar-Daimler Heritage Trust which will tell you the original exterior and interior colors, the first buyer, etc.

Jaguar Heritage

 

The engine bay is painted in the body colour, but over a coat of body schutz and is not shiny, but a sort of satiny sheen, i.e. not matt.

There was no plate for body paint code on these old cars, unfortunately, at least I don't think so. The later Mark 2s or 340s might have had something.

 

Go to an inside fender or door or boot lid, hood or under seats, you should be able to scrape a place and see the first coat of paint on primer. Eg, Blue cars had red primer with dark blue next. Lighter colors had grey or white primer. If car has had a repaint there will still be a corner someplace to find the original color.

 

[QUOTE=Jagfixer;964417]Go to an inside fender or door or boot lid, hood or under seats, you should be able to scrape a place and see the first coat of paint on primer. Eg, Blue cars had red primer with dark blue next. Lighter colors had grey or white primer. If car has had a repaint there will still be a corner someplace to find the original color. If a steel wheeled car,
most times wheels were body color.[/QUOTE]

 

The JCNA judging guide will give you all the info you need about your engine compartment paint, etc. down load it at:
http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/mark2.pdf
Best,
JP
1960 3.8 Mk2

 

around 1995, I purchased a one-hour VHS tape of the Jaguar factory works produced in 1965 and titled "Buiilding a Legend", a factory film about the MK-2 being manufactured, painted, and assembled from scratch, from the engine to the body to the interior to road testing and tuning, what is most impressive to me, is the discipline of the workers in each department as they assemble the MK-2. In some shots S types can also be seen in the assembly line.

At the paint booth, the entire body was mounted on a rotisserie, painted over and under and then carefully inspected.

unfortunately this video was removed from circulation and is no longer available.

 

There is a factory tour video on the Mk2 on Youtube:
JP

 

Wow ! If all cars were built like that now-a-days, it would cost a 1/4 of million dollars !
What allot of hands-on labor !