Jaguar XKE Question

[The creative explorer]

I believe it is B.S. All the series had body-colored areas. I went through some old jaguar material and I did found that 98% had body-colored area's with 2 exceptions; one gunmetal grey on a red example and one gunmetal grey on a darkgreen example.
My guess would be a estethic preferrence.

[Mr Casual]

G'day Michael.
From the research I've done,all the early series E's had grey in the headlight buckets.
Regards Michael, from the left coast of the big island.

[3.Star]

Thank you Olijnsma and Mr.Casual for your fast help. Appreciate this very much.

Cheers

Michael

[xken]

Mr. Casual,

Here are pictures of my 1962 Series I E Type; this is a consistent 99.96 points car at Jaguar Concours judging standards. All E-types with the glass headlight covers, as well as all fiberglas components were painted with silver Hammerite paint. This is the correct original finish from the factory. Note the texture in the close up of the air intake plenum. Hammerite was an industrial grade paint used mostly on machinery to reduce the rough surface of casting .

Any other color than silver is an incorrect repaint on a car with glass covers.

Ken









Note: The underside of the bonnet(hood) is as smooth and shiny as the exterior of the bonnet (hood). Later American market cars had undercoating sprayed in the wheel well areas.

[jarrow]

Beautiful car, one of my favorites

[The creative explorer]

I am daring to take up the discussion, can it be that the silver Hamerite would be a US-Spec thing?

I have material which shows, pre-production and all 3 series of E-type's. If you take the prototype #5; it is a red car with red inserts.
Both the 9600HP and the 77RW are true to original Jaguar cars and both have body-color inserts, while the 5th production vehicle has silver inserts.

Looking at photomaterial from 1961, it shows the inserts on the motorshow in Denmark are body-color, just like a picture of the assembly line and a bunch of E-types parked outside.
In the brochure is a red convertible with gunmetal/silver inserts and a blue FHC with body-color inserts.
Also in publicity photo's both color-options seems to be possible and not related to color. As I've seen a yellow E-type with body-color insert. And a white convertible with bodycolor inserts.

[xken]

olijnsma,

You are correct in your references; these were done on the development/introduction show cars for publicity ads which have often caused confusion with production cars. What went into production was the Hammerite finish which was an international paint application for machine equipment still in wide use today. And again these were only on the cars with the glass covered headlights; when the glass covers were banned in the U.S. then the body color was incorporated on the new sheetmetal pressings.

For all Concours production judging the standard is: [B]" The vehicle must be driven to the show field and presented as it would have appeared in the showroom from the factory."[/B] This is regardless of year and the car must pass a complete mechanical check as well of all components. Pre production cars are [B]NOT[/B] considered a standard for production cars.

[B]"From the factory"[/B] is the key phrase and dealers at the time; once the cars became popular srarted adding their own accessories such as bumper over riders and fender mounted mirrors.

My response is for production cars only; not the few pre production show cars. Also only the first 500 had the external bonnet latches and welded in bonnet vents. Keep in mind the E-type originally was not intended for full production and the first couple of years cars were made on soft tooling with a myriad of running changes. There is a book available that lists every documented running change by car production number. As for reference material, I have every piece of literature, including some really obsure items. I have been to Concours where I have known more about the details than the judges do; and one is allowed to show judges documentation to back up the presentation of the car. One example is the early gauges through mid 1963 have "Made in England" while the later ones have "Made in the U.K." this is tiny type at the bottom of each gauge and is a great way to tell if the guages have been replaced. My car also has the original wiring harness and all electrical components are renewed originals; so Lucas got it right at least once with this car.

Hope this helps to clarify things.

Ken

PS. The reason the British like warm beer is because they have Lucas refridgerators!

[MADD FABRICATOR]

Ken, without any exception, your Jag is one BEAUTIFUL car. Thanks for posting the photos and also for the clarification on the pre-production verses production variations. That is one area where a model builder can find himself in a dilema, when trying to determine " what's right".
By the way, you're more than welcome to park the Jag, in my garage out here in Kansas anytime.
CHEERZZZ !!!!!!! MADD FABRICATOR

[Andym]

Ken - The Jaguar is stunning. Absolutely stunning.

Your Lucas Refridgerator comments reminded me of the best T-Shirt I ever saw at an all-British car meet. On the front is said "Lucas - Prince of Darkenss" and on the back it said "Lucas - Because a Gentleman never drive's at night".

Andy.

[xken]

MADD FABRICATOR trust me not only are the model builders confused, I have seen examples of full scale cars done incorrectly by reputable shops using the wrong reference.

Kansas...you have a deal I will deliver the car and you can deliver the check for $100,000. Let me know. Keep in mind you can always live in a car; you cannot drive a house!

Other points of interest on the XKE it had a dual hydrallic braking system with all wheel disc brakes front 11" and inboard rear 10". Indy race cars did not go to inboard disc brakes until 1965. This reduced the unsprung weight at the wheels.

Michilin developed the radial tires for the E Type; several different colors were initially offered to match the body color, Red, White, Yellow, Blue and Green. Red lines later were popular on the Corvettes and other American cars of the period.

Push button starter; now presently being advertised in new cars.

From the showroom in top tune up trim and 105 octane could do 150mph. advertised, but more real at 145mph.

The head color are for compression ratios: Gold 9:1; Silver 8:1, Blue 7:1; no blue heads were ever shipped to the U.S. they were for countries with poor quality gasoline supplies.

The decal on the driver's side windscreen has the breaking in the engine instructions printed on the inside for the driver to easily read.

My car was done from a completely disassembled rusted out hulk that I purchased in 1978 for $1,100 that sat apart for the prvious 10 years. The beauty of it was that everything was original components except for the steering wheel which the early ones were prone to breaking. There were holes in the body that you could put your leg through. Black does not hide shoddy body work. Ohio salt was not kind to the early Jags that had no rustproofing whatso ever. The panels up under the back of the dash were bare steel.

Mine is registered with the Jaguar Heritage Trust which means that it is certified by Jaguar to have all the original matching numbers: Chassis; Body; Engine; and Transmission. You send them a $50 check; your component numbers and if they match the original build specs you will receive from them a beautiful certificate of authenticity; if not matching a nice "so sorry" letter.

Ken

[3.Star]

Lucas the Inventors of Electric Darkness. Having had some British cars equipped by Lucas Products. I'll always subscribe this statement.

Cheers

Michael

[3.Star]

That's what it's all about,

I'll make the deal. Will make the eyebrows of my XKE in Hammerite:grey

[Rick]

Hey Don

Was it you that has a resto mod XKE with body color headlight buckets on the bench? Wanna have some fun with these purists?

All in jest guys. Ain't nothing better than a "correct" restoration.

[Nortley]

3.star, Joseph Lucas had passed on before electrical systems appeared on the road. The company he founded made its initial fortune with fuel burning lamps for bicycles and such. It is therefor a historical inaccuracy to "credit" mr. Lucas with originating the first short or open circuits. There is a very good possibility, however, that with his early lamps he did invent the oil leak.