Just thought I'd share that I bought 2 1965 S-Types this summer. Both 3.8 autos, w A/C (trunk mount) & PS. One I bought as a parts car, but it is complete. The other (Maroon see pics) is a totally rust free Calif car but honestly needs to be restored to be nice. The parts car is the one I plan to have some "Fun" with. I can't afford to restore them both so it is going to become a "Rat Rod" so to speak. My ambition is to cut it in half, shorten the wheel base about 9 inches, make it a 2 door, drop in a Small Block Chevy (SBC) and 5 Speed manual. I pirated a rear out of an XJS for a wider track in the back, and the spindles with 4 pot calipers from the front. The biggest hurdle is going to be the side window glass. From front A-pillar to the B-pillar, S-types and Mark IIs bow out. From the B-pillar back they bow in. I can cut and lengthen the front doors using half of the back door, but I can't make curved glass (afford ably) so it may not get side glass. Don't scoff; I have a very nice other car I will restore to original....some day.

I've already done some significant sheet-metal work on the gray car.

 

BTW, I haven't cut the gray car in half yet...so if anyone wants it before I do I will consider selling it. It is complete (engine, trans, etc) but now it is also completely torn apart/disassembled. Send me a PM and I'll give you more pics, phone number, e-mail etc.

 

Good luck on your "rat rod". Please keep the pictures coming throughout the process!

 

+1 on the pics of both Rat and restore.

 

Hi guys. I've been extremely busy on customer cars..painted a 91 Nissan 300ZX, Buffed out paint job I did on 63 Corvette and starting assembly..but I did make time to start patching the rear of the S-Type. I bought a rear clip in fair shape, took a plazma cutter to it, cut off the rotten rear end of mine and am getting it close..not welded up yet though.

If you recall I have a nice original unmolested car that I may restore or sell. This one however; is the one I plan to hotrod, cut in half and shorten about 10" and make it a 2 door, with arched rear wheel openings. I was disappointed to find out someone has made a 2 door already; however they kept the stock wheelbase so mine will still be unique.

Hope the picture show up ok.

 

The process has begun..no turning back now. Kinda of scarry but it was a parts car so if I don't succeed not a huge loss. By tomorrow I will have 2 halves..minus 9"..and will start to align. Here are the latest pics.

 

May God speed up your progress on this project , it is going to be a challenge but once it's done it will become a cool car

 

Productive last few days. Cut her completely in half. Started welding it back together. Roof almost finished. Have to get underneath and finish the frame rails and sills next. I will put reinforcement patches over all the seams I welded...sills, bottom of frame rails, and inner roof beams. This has been fun..the hard part is yet to come..the doors and windows.

 

Pretty cool Steve, keep the pictures comming! That will definately be a one of a kind car.

 

That is my hope and intention...a one of a kind.
I thought I wanted an E Type..they are cool but common.
I go to car shows and see the same ol stuff, whether they be American, Euro or Japanese. I want something no one else has ever seen before. Since I can't afford a coach built car like the Zatogato bodied Jag, I thought I'd build this unique JagRod. Wish I could find a cheap AJV-8 for it. Besides an E-type is cramped and hard to get in/out of. This will be roomy by comparsion.

 

This is going to be easier than I figured now. I got lucky and found a set of doors (with windows and all the hardware). So now I only have to split the front doors down the middle. Cut a 10" section out of the other ones and weld them into the middle of the existing ones. There won't be a back door of course, so I just cut off the front and weld them in place to the kickup and door post that will be moved rearward 10".
Remember I removed 9" from the middle of the car.

 

This is a really cool project. I'd forgotten you had a pair of S-types. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this.

 

Not as easy as I hoped (to make it like the factory did it). The tapering nature of the top crease lines is going to make this difficult. Since I removed only 9", the doors extension should be 10" per my original plan. However; that is too much to add without the curves becoming totally mismatched. So I may only extend them 6", and extend the rear quarter window frames 4"...TBD. (The post is going back in moved rearward of course.) I will be playing around with it this week some.

 

This was harder than cutting and welding the body. So many curves and taper but I did it! Next is to cut the sill and take the curve out, then cut and install the post. Followed by cutting the rear door and welding in place. Then repeat on the other side! I haven't decided whether to angle the post or keep it straight up at the window.

 

Wow- cool project. Please keep us posted!

 

Got the door post cut and mocked up. Left door lengthened..didn't come out quit as good as the right side..will take a bit more filler to get it to curve/plane smoothly but it's all good. Also showing sacrificial door(s) after cutting up. Let me tell you this has been fun but hard work, and frustrating and disappointing when I can't get things perfect. The left door was more difficult than the right for unknown reasons. It dips in at the patch so 3/16" of filler about an inch wide then tapering out will be needed....shoot..the other side only needs about an 1/8" inch. Guess I warped it when welding and grinding.

 

In the photos you can see that due to the tapering off of the body toward the rear, and lengthening the door on a flat plane, this created a severe droop to close the gap. The line just doesn't flow. So to fix the problem I am using the rear door skin to create a new body line at the point where the roof and rear fender meet. It looks so much better and when completed you won't be able to tell I raised the curve. I think you will agree that it looks better to have the tops of the door and rear quarter window area on the same plane.

In the first 2 photos you see the droop just isn't right. In the next photo there is still the lower body line that is better but still doesn't look quite right. In the last photos with the door skin extended it looks the best. So now I just have to cut. trim and weld them on and then add a filler on the top by the rear window. (Having the extra doors really helped as it allowed me to use the old rusted one to cut up and experiment with.)

 

You certainly seem to be very skilled with sheet metal work. Did you know that Sir William Lyons, founder of Jaguar, used to style the cars full size in sheet metal ? No clays were used, he worked with a couple of very skilled sheet metal guys who shaped up the panels on his instructions. I have a book showing the work in progress. Several iterations were normally necessary before he was happy with the style.

 

I didn't know that..very interesting. Wish I had the skill those old "panel beaters" had. I'm rather proud of this achievement, and really happy I came up with a solution to the drooping rear door area. I welded one side up today and it looks really good.

 

The basic transformation to a shortened, 2 door, 2 seater coupe is done! Tons of detail work to do of course; but I pulled off the basic transformation. The last pic shows how much I raised the body line to keep the rear opening pretty much in line with the front door top.

Now what separates the professional from the shade tree is in the details. Next up is radiusing the rear wheel wells.