This is the car I need help with.

 

Can you send a picture of the badge?
My first thought was a Marcos or Ginetta but I figure it is too big for that; I presume it is built on an E Type so maybe it is just a homemade bonnet?

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Shannon73,

Good to have you with us.
Can't help with the car I'm afraid it might be worth asking in the regional section Australia - Queensland - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum hope that's the right one!
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!

 

Extra photos

 

Extra shots

 

Welcome to the forum Shannon73,

Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums.

This is the Intro forum. Perhaps some information about yourself, whether you own the vehicle or where you have seen it and why it is so important to you could encourage better responses.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

I am really keen to buy this car, more so if it is collectable or rare and has racing history. The headlights are odd, never seen any like this, and the boot is different to any I have seen. May be one of your members has come across it before or seen it at a track. Cheers

 

Welcome to the forum, Norri mentions you are in Qld. (mods must have have ESP) or the moderator control panel.. All I can see is Australia.
It looks like the car has South Australia plates though? Might want do a lot of checking with TMR (Transport and Main Roads) if it can be registered in Qld.
If you are in Qld post a thread in the Qld forum ,maybe some locals there can help.

Australia - Queensland - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

And post in roll call thread in Qld too when you get a moment. If you are in Qld.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...l-call-119698/

If it is for sale in Brisbane, can you mention in the thread where it is located. Looks like a wholesale yard. Or a link to the add.

 

I don't "know" the car but I know where it is in South Australia, it's up for auction along with some other Jags that have been sitting in an old blokes yard for many years. Circa 57, Jaguar, Special, Coupe - Pickles Auctions Australia

The body is not made by Jaguar, that's for sure.

The auction site says "circa 1957" well it's definitely younger than that, cars weren't built like that in the 1950's.

It's possibly the driveline, gauges and maybe suspension out of a Jag (which model? hard to say) that has the fibreglass body over the top...it does not appear to be an E-Type (the front subframe is not an E) maybe something else. Maybe not a Jaguar chassis at all.

Maybe try contacting these guys Home - Jaguar Drivers Club of South Australia and see if they can ask thier members if they know the car at all...

Also, they say that the car has a CAMS logbook, I would ask to get scanned copies of the logbook and contact CAMS to see what history they can provide.

Hurry up, the auction is finishing in 9 days... Good luck.

 

The bonnet and boot badges should give a clue but the images in the Pickles Auctions advert are too small to make them out.

Graham

 

No further news really...

It was definitely registered as a Jag.

Plate Number SMY888
Make JAGUAR
Body Type SEDAN
Primary Colour RED
Expiry Date UNREGISTERED

I've put it out there on an Australian forum hoping someone might recognise the car, but nothing...

If it was really put together from a wrecked 1957 Jag, that means it could be based on a Mark 1, an XK140 or a MK VIII, the styling bears no resemblance to any of those so maybe just donated the driveline, gauges & the name for the rego papers.

It was suggested that this car might have been built in the 60's, I'm more inclined to think it was built in the 70's, maybe even the 80's.

Best thing would be to go & have a look at it in person & take some proper pics. Plane ticket from Brisbane to Adelaide is a few hundred, not that much when you are talking about spending tens of thousands on a car...

 

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Sorry I missed this one fellas, and I'll PM you [shannon] coz time is pressing.

Almost bought one . . . brilliant yellow but later, and nicer body style at rear in the early 70s. Fortunately, my sensible co-pilot urged me towards the S! E-Type which we continued saving and searching for, then purchased instead.

If I'm correct, this car is a Bolwell . . . Australian designed and produced kit cars of the 60s into 70s. What I cannot be sure of, but suspect, is that this one pre-dates the Nagari, probably about a Mk 4 or 5. These earlier kit cars never got to produce more than a handful per year, and as a kit designed primarily for 6cyl Holden running gear, some of the "made" examples (I never saw one that actually looked fully finished) were quite horrible.

All that changed with the Nagari, with the company pitching more towards the factory assembled and finished car. Launched in a blaze of expectation, the Bolwell Nagari (I forget the Aboriginal meaning . . . whirlwind?) when fitted with Jaguar XK driveline and running gear was electrifying. Weight down, nimble Chapman inspired suspension, it certainly went like the wind.

But I also suspect that Cameron is very much on the money in another important area. If I am correct and this is a Bolwell of pre- Nagari vintage it is almost certainly 60s and based not on E-Type components. Why? Because, even then, the second hand market for quality S1 Es was quite expensive. Ours cost a tad short of what we paid to purchase our country Vic 3 bed home at much the same time.

So, overwhelmingly, these cars were built from ex-saloon components. I'll come back to the wheels (very important) but first point you to the rear axle . . . which I bet is ex Mk1 or Mk2 Jag, not irs. First big weakness. Next the brakes . . . solid disks at front? what about the rears? Disks or drums? If the latter, their typical Oz racing performance was mediocre at best . . . electrifying in a straight line, allow lots of braking distance, then tiptoe around corners. For 3 laps around the brand new (at the time) Oran Park, they were great fun. Any more, or after only 2 laps at Mt Panorama, Bathurst, and they were a disaster.

But that CAMS log book is a valuable treasure. Again, only if I am correct as to the car, this one has been raced - the log book will tell you by whom, when, where, and with what results. Let's not kid around about this CAMS log book . . . it is valuable. Coupled with the car, it is abundantly so. I have no hesitation in saying that if there is but a single entry in there of Brabham, Davidson, Stillwell, or Jane, neither the car nor Log Book would be offered on the open market. Even if carrying names like Matich or that ilk, this original CAMS Log Book would be worth even more than the car to which it belongs. By comparison, as purely an occasional club racer, the value would be much lower, but still worth a 30 - 50% premium on the value of car alone.

You see, it all comes down to provenance . . . and having both together elevates this offering into high class territory . . . and (LOL) this is coming from someone who, when comparing this to the later Nagari, doesn't particularly like the look and style of this car. Back to the wheels as promised, because they also will tell you lots about the originality of the car. Club racing was (maybe still is) tolerant of wire wheels in competition, although chrome wire wheels were first to be banned - apparently the chroming process makes them brittle. No mag wheels to speak of back then so look for steel wheels, probably 6x16s or 7x16s.

Putting all this together is a tough task Shannon . . . and I guess depends on what you want to achieve. A quick fire entry into historic racing? An interesting toy with a unique provenance? Please post the outcome . . . and not just the price, which along with confirmation of maker, should prove very interesting.
Good luck and best wishes,
Ken

 

Good info Ken!

I put this up on another forum (a local Aussie motorsport forum) asking if anyone knew the car. Nobody did...

However one guy seems to think that the steering wheel is identical to Bolwells...

And also worth noting that the rego plate with the S prefix dates it at the mid-late 1970's.

If it is a "pre-nagari" Bolwell then that would explain why everyone says "it looks like a Bolwell, but it's not one" because it's an early attempt...?

 

Bingo Cameron . . . you are absolutely spot on about the s/wheel and the seats are pure early Recaro. Noted also are gen (not alternator) so likely POS earth; uniquely saloon exhaust headers (vertical not canted) and likely twin SUs.

Biggest problem I have is trying to place the Bolwell badge, which appears here to be circular (as per Jag) but with offset ears top and bottom in form of a knock-off road wheel spinner. Of all the old, the weird, and the ornate car badges filed inside my aching cranium, I just cannot remember Bollwell's!

I have a mental image of words (like JAGUAR over COVENTRY) but instead saying BOLWELL over CARS, with no mention anywhere of Mk3,4,5 or whatever . . . but I can't be certain it's a real memory.

Cheers,
Ken

 

I just got a reply from John Low (Bolly Blog)

 

Auction finished a couple of hours ago, did you buy it Shannon?

 

Hey Shannon,

What news? Pls at least give us something . . .

Ken

 

The car didn't sell apparently. It's back up for Auction with Pickles for February...?