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CAR OF THE MONTH SEPTEMBER 2007
JAGUAR
XK 150S
It is hard to believe, but this Jaguar, fully restored by Paul, was actually so badly rusted in the body that Paul decided that the only way to restore the car was to rebuild it - but having no body parts available to him, he used his creative skills and made molds - reproducing the car in fiberglass. The only body parts which are still original are the bonnet and the boot. Read on for the full story. 34 years is what it took Paul to reconstruct his Jaguar in what he describes as his Labour of Love. I took the following article written by Paul, with permission from The Driftwood - a Gulf Islands newspaper published Wednesday, June 20, 2007. (Webmaster) "I purchased my 1959 Jaguar XK 150S drop-head coupe in 1965 for $1,500 from Coventry Motor Cars in Toronto. The 'S" stands for special edition, which included three large carburetors, close ratio gearbox with overdrive-lightened flywheel and positraction rear end. Only 105 left-hand-drive, 3.4 litre XK 150S drop heads were manufactured. I drove the car year round until December 1968, at which time I took the car off the road for repairs. Having suffered the ravages of winter driving on heavily salted Ontario roads, the two rear fenders were badly rusted, as were other parts of the body. O'Donald Macky, the Jaguar dealership where I purchased a new XKE Jaguar convertible in 1964, informed me that replacement fenders for the XK 150S were no longer available. The dealership gave me the name of John Blythe, who was making fiberglass rear fenders for XK's. This was to be a fateful meeting. When I arrived at his residence, John was making a fiberglass fender for a 120 Jaguar (a different model than my own car) I though it looked easy and told John I would simply make the fenders for my own car. John laughed, saying that all the guys who came here said they would do that but never did. John took me into his garage and there was a complete fiberglass XK 120 which John had just recently taken out of the molds he had made. That was the turning point for me. I always believed that if you own a really great car that you thoroughly enjoy, you should be able to drive it forever. Making a car from fiberglass would mean a rust-free car! A few weeks later I informed John that I was going to make a fiberglass Jaguar from my existing XK 150S. Why just make fender when you could make the whole car? John now took me seriously and that was the start of a long friendship. To keep everything organized and on track, I worked out a shop manual with over 600 items to be taken care of in the reconstruction process. Before making the molds from the original car, any dints, holes or imperfections had to be eliminated in order to have a perfect body from which to work. Before starting, I had to determine where the splits would be, so that the different molded shapes would release from the car. There would be 45 separate molds, including one for the convertible hard top. At that time convertibles were considered dangerous. North American manufacturers had stopped producing them. I had witnessed a convertible flip over, so decided to make my car into a hardtop. A steel frame-work was designed, fiberglassed and bolted into the individual molds. When cured, the finished molds were unbolted and pulled off the car, then turned upside down and bolted back together, after cleaning and waxing. Matting and roving was then fiberglassed into the molds to reproduce the car body. The rear fenders, trunk lid and hood were separate items. The original car was completely dismantled, along with another XK 150 I bought for $200 for spare parts. I kept the hood, trunk, lid, and firewall with windshield surround. The frame was sent off for sandblasting, and then galvanized, which added 50 pounds to its weight. The engine was trailered down to Grand Turismo Jaguar in Ohio for a complete rebuild with various internal modifications and upgrades. All chrome pieces were taken to a specialist in antique car rechroming in Toronto.. During the 1960's I had ordered over 100 new spare parts, including three new windshields from the Jaguar factory in Conventry, England. As a photographer and corporate graphic designer, my work was becoming more demanding. Other important projects such as a coach house studio renovation and preparation for a one-man sculpture exhibition meant that the car project was put on hold, until my wife and I purchased our house on Salt Spring in 1988. Eventually I started working on the car again, painting the frame, creating a new gas tank and suspension parts with a two part black epoxy paint. Then I reassembled everything. The engine and gearbox were dropped onto the frame. A dual stainless-steel exhaust system was fitted. The body was lowered over the frame and wheels, then bolted down. Hanging the doors was not easy. The original hinges were inadequate so the doors generally would sag over time. Mark-2 Jaguar rear-door hinges with grease nipples were selected. Working out their position and alignment was challenging. I had decided that I wanted the car to be a convertible again, so I cut off the fiberglass hard top I had added to the top of the body. Next I fitted the original wood and steel convertible framework, and bolted it into the car. I then had a three-inch-thick, padded drop-head soft top made for the car. A Salt Spring mover came to Toronto and picked up my still unfinished car. It was the third Jaguar he would move to Salt Spring for me. I sold the molds for the car before moving from Toronto. I bought and rebuilt a used industrial sewing machine, and then purchased all the material I would need to sew the new seats and interior. I moved to Salt Spring in 1993 and began work again on the car. I made patterns from the original seats and interior panels, butting and shaping the foam for the seat cushions. New seat upholstery was sewn and fitted over the cushions. The next step was to prepare the car body for painting. I purchased an industrial turbine spray gun, which cuts back on wasteful over-spray. My garage is outfitted with industrial exhaust fans to keep the air filtered. Primer was sprayed on first, then sanded down. Next, a metallic green colour was sprayed on with the help of Ron Hall, a former Toronto neighbour now living on Salt Spring. He moved special lighting around during the painting process, so that I could see what I was doing. A final clear coat was sprayed on to finish the job
I drew up a master wiring diagram with 25 pages of colour illustrations showing how everything works through 15 fuses. At that point I completely wired up the car, which was now driveable. Finally, I ordered six metres of English Wilton carpeting. I cut out the floor and gearbox patterns, then sewed and installed the interior carpeting. The engine was given a final tune-up. After 34 years the car was finished. I now enjoy driving my green XK 150S Jaguar, especially with the top down, and never having to worry about rust on this magnificent car."
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