I have long been a fan of elegant wood shooting brakes. As I was tearing apart my series 3 to salvage bits to use on my series 1. My brain started visualizing the elegant wood forming the lines of a Jaguar XJ12 shooting brake.
Then I looked over at the stacks of wood left over from the construction of my house. And all the wood working equipment I have in my shop.
That darn devil on my shoulder had me grinning.
More than plenty of really nice 10+ foot long Flawless rock maple. Wood I need to dispose of anyway. My minds eye saw the ease of using existing pieces to make doors and a roof with just enough taper to be elegant yet not disturb Sir Williams classic design.
Would such a creation offend every XJ owner? Would I be tarred and feathered and banned from polite civilization for even thinking of such thoughts?

 

FWIW I have never, ever, seen a modified Jaguar body that did not look absolutely dreadful. Including the XJS Eventer, drophead versions of the XJ series 2 and 3 saloons etc etc.

 

The very thought just seems Wrong!
But then, I'm a Straight-laced Purist so my opinion might be suspect.

 

Well, from someone is also more of a purist than not, I don't happen to find the idea per se particularly wrong.

When Jaguar has done shooting brakes "in-house", I think they have been quite successful from a styling perspective, in no small part because they went to the expense of not using the sedan's rear doors but re-engineered them so that the glass lines were proper and not simply carried over to save a few bucks (one of the reasons the Ford Taurus wagon etc. don't "work"). If you're going to do this, I don't see any reason you couldn't stylistically come up with something quite lovely.

I would suggest you might even look at incorporating the rear side glass and back glass from an S-type shooting brake (my guess is that an XF's glass would be too tall and too wide but that's just a guess). That would also give you some patterns to work from... I also wonder if you might want to look at incorporating an F-Type rear window/lift gate, a piece of engineering/design I find quite evocative of an E-type coupe (also an option???). Approaching the glass like this would also give you access to frames and trim pieces and hardware that you might otherwise have to fabricate.

I don't know why you would feel terribly different about modifying body panels than you are about a motor.

As for using maple, Morgan was quite successful doing that with the chassis, I see no reason you couldn't do so with superstructure.

 

Morgan uses Ash, rather than maple. The chassis is steel, the frame for the body is made of wood and the aluminum body panels are attached to it, in the traditional coachbuilt way. Some photos inside the Morgan factory:

 

^
I happily stand corrected...

Thanks for the photos - I'm sure they'll intrigue LnrB as much as they do me.

 

It's the only car factory I've been to that smelled like sawdust! A fascinating place, the tour is well worth taking.

 

I think you would lose that beautiful rise over the rear tires and not be able to retain the Lyon's line intent of the car. Tarred and feathered? No, but possibly burned at the stake with a flawless rock maple fire.

 

Granted this is an XJ40 and not a Series III but I think that “rise” as well as the distinct and quite lovely tail lamps and plinth line of the Series III could be sculpted in quite nicely…

 

let’s see if I can change your mind.
This is a modified Jaguar XK 150

 

Exactly ! It's like the atrocious John Steed XJC. WTF ?

 

I've driven wagons (estates) as my daily driver for 20 years and this one looks pretty nice, I think the more squared off design lends itself more to a wagon than a Series III which is what I thought was the original intent of the thread.

 

^
I have also always been a station wagon/shooting brake fan and never understood the shift to SUV’s.

And yes, the thread is about a Series III conversion (Go LnrB Go! ) but I couldn’t really find a Series III conversion photo to illustrate.

 

Here is a Series III conversion:



I would have sloped the roof extension at the same angle as the back seat window glass, used a flatter slope on the back glass to match the back of the C pillar and kept a bit more of the trunk/boot edges and plinth. This would make the extension less tall/hearse-like and more elegant. It would have a cost in interior storage but this isn’t being done for maximum utility…

 

Agreed, Ken. It looks well executed but the design is too hearse like. But I do admire those who have made the effort.

 

Ken, as I drive a Converted (Chevy First Generation (Olde Tech) 350) V8 powered Series 2 Xj6 with a bunch of Series 3 bits stuck on here and there, the Purist line was a joke. I have no objection to "modifications" as such, but that one was just not to my liking at all.

You're right about the Morgan. True Craftsmen are deeply appreciated at CasaB, no matter the media.
(';')