2021-04-12 15:40:03 | pauls writes:

Car offered at:
www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/jaguar/3.8s/2466998.html

Seller's description:
Location: Shutesbury, Massachusetts, 01072
VIN #: B1B59173DN11111
Mileage: 82,356
Transmission: Manual
Condition: Project
Exterior: white
Interior: red

This is a rare original Jaguar 3.8S, or S-Type. The car was built in South Africa in 1966 at the BMC plant and exported to the US at some time in its later years. It is extremely solid underneath, needing only minor welding repairs. The rocker panels, quarters and floors are all original and solid, as the pictures show, although some minor repairs will be needed at the front and rear of the right side rear wheel opening. This car has the rare and very desirable all-synchromesh 4-speed manual overdrive gearbox. Being a South African car, it has right-hand drive, although we can supply all the parts to convert it to LHD if the buyer chooses. This is a relatively straightforward job on these cars, as they were built to be equipped for either left or right hand drive.

This car sat under a tarp beneath a carport for decades, and unfortunately the tarp against the paint was a bad idea, as this practice always is. Better to leave the car uncovered than to put a plastic tarp on it to hold the moisture against the paint, especially if you live in a place that gets a lot of rainfall, like the Northeast! The results show in the pictures, with lots of rust stains and peeling paint. It will need to stripped to bare metal, but there are NO SURPRISES on this car. It has never been repaired or repainted, so what you see is not covering filler or patches, anywhere. The underside is similarly very solid, with excellent floors, all four jacking points, crows-feet, crossmembers and radius arm attachment points all being very solid and original.

The car runs well. One cylinder is low, which is probably due to sticky rings. We believe it will likely improve as the car is run, but for the moment, that cylinder is about 105 psi. The others are between 125 and 160, again, the variance possibly being due to sticking rings after sitting for 40 years. We will supply a video of the engine starting up and running if the buyer requests.

This car has an excellent set of seats, upholstered in South Africa with local vinyl, unlike most S-types, which had leather seats. There are no tears or splits. The carpets are poor. The woodwork is complete but most of it will need to be reveneered. We can supply excellent original wood from another car with good veneer for additional cost of the buyer wishes. The headliner is good, and all gauges and switches are complete and intact.

The car will require total restoration. But the bones are excellent, no serious rot, good seats, the most desirable gearbox and a running engine. If you have a rusty one, here is the way to fix your problem!

We have parted out many classic Jaguar saloons over the past four decades and have an enormous inventory of used original parts for these great old cars (we drive a '63 3.8 ourselves in good weather, so we are committed!) on the shelf, everything from a tiny screw to a good running engine or a set of seats and woodwork. We STRONGLY prefer to sell this car as a restorable project so that it might be saved, even though it is definitely worth more in parts than the BIN price.

Price: $4,750