Ready to Restore: 1964 Jaguar E-Type
This 1964 Jaguar E-Type is not a numbers-matching car, but it still remains a fairly solid candidate for a restoration. It will require some work and has been sitting for decades, but it is certainly not the worst E-Type that I’ve seen. The Jaguar is located in Pleasanton, California, and listed for sale here on eBay.
The Jaguar started life finished in Opalescent Dar Blue, but it has undergone a repaint at some point in its life. The body itself seems fairly solid, and it’s also reasonably straight. There is rust in the floors, and these will need replacing. There doesn’t seem to be any structural rust, and all of the external trim appears to be present, and would certainly restore well. The car was fitted with a blue soft-top, and while the frame appears to be complete, the soft-top is beyond any form of salvage and will require replacement.
The engine is a 4.2-liter 6-cylinder and is backed by a manual transmission. The engine is not original, but the seller says that it is period correct. The car doesn’t run, but the engine turns freely, and it also displays good compression. A big plus with a car like this is that it does appear that everything is present, and a significant number of items under the hood look like they could be restored.
Once upon a time, the interior was finished in pale blue leather. It looks to be largely complete, but full restoration will be required. To look at an E-Type from the outside the ergonomics look wrong, and I really wasn’t convinced about these as a driver’s car. My first experience with a Series 1 soon changed my mind, and these are a supremely comfortable car to drive and are very involving.
I like early E-Type Jaguars, and I especially like the roadsters. I think that they are one of the most stunningly pretty cars ever made. This one needs some work, but it is a reasonable prospect. The bidding on the car has been pretty strong, and at the time of writing it has reached $14,850, but the reserve hasn’t been met. The 4.2-liter versions aren’t as popular as the 3.8, and that’s where the truly big money is. Having said that, it is virtually impossible to buy a decent Series 1 4.2 for under $120,000, so this would appear to be a viable proposition if the reserve isn’t too high.
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Comments
God, even in that run down state the original E is still beautiful
My thoughts exactly!
I’d take a 4.2 over a 3.8.
This Jag has alot more going for it than the one that was featured earlier. And unlike the first, 26 people have placed their bids. It’s already past $26 grand and there’s still 7 days left before the hammer drops.
EV conversion.
Be quite a story at cars and coffee…next to the retro EV of this very model that Jag is coming out with.
If your going to EV it you might as well crush it because it will be ruined. EV’s the lie of the century. Biggest con job on the consumer ever. Just like CO2 is a pollutant yet every plant on the planet needs it to grow and it is an element on the periodic table. I’m so sick of hearing about how great EV’s are, come talk to me when they’re 15 years old and need new battaries. I don’t know do we have enough spent pot ash mines to dispose of all those future dead battaries. Is the enough coal in the ground to charge them up daily.
Bravo Canadianmark- EV along with this go green crap is such a farce. You are correct about the batteries. There are plenty of free Prius’s here, they all need batteries. Tesla, well lets see where that goes. There was a great article about a road test guy drove one for 2 weeks and his experiences are amazing. Oh yeah, one other thing- these s*itcans use lithium Ion batteries, that are not recycleable. Woops they really thought that thru. Most electric plants run on natural gas, which is–wait- a fossil fuel.One more thought-no one had ever proven that Freon R12 burned a hole in the ozone. Yet, the knee jerk reaction was to eliminate it and come up with an alternatve. Plus certification for every one who uses refrigerant. The Big Lie.
I’m off the soap box-sorry this is off topic- I need to vent about the crap that’s being shoved down our throats, also promise to cut back on the caffeine…
Cheers
GPC
Shall I get off your lawn?
I feel the same about front wheel drive, I’ve driven plenty of both and can honestly say I feel no advantage to it
DLY your welcome on my lawn any time, You DO have a right to your opinion and I respect it even if I disagree. You know I have an electric bicycle that has lithium battaries, one of them crapped out. So I contacted the bike shop that sold the conversion package to see what a replacment would cost. The answer was $800.00 for 1 of 2 that propelled the bike. Now that’s just a small bicycle battary can you imagine what a car battary is going to cost, all those cheep miles you got will be gone in one of two ways you will now pay your fuel costs all at once and then some when you buy a new battary pack, or you will discard the car prematurely there buy paying up on the fuel costs. Further more lithium is not in endless supply stats say at current levels of consumption there is about 300 years worth. If you ramp up electric car production the way the Feds want the the projection is about 30 years. And by the way Tesla has a large portion of current known reserves. In my opinion nothing has really changed since the 1907 Baker electric battaries and battary lifespans will always be the problem. They are a novalty plain and simple just like very expensive solar and wind power, which have there own impacts. There is a wind farm in southern Alberta and the estimates are that the blades kill about 40 thousand birds a year and that just one location. So much so coyotes just wait around for there diner to fall out of the sky. Nobodies talking about that in the media. All we’ve gained is fat coyotes.
It is absurd on it’s face to suggest that even the newest ICE car doesn’t pollute.(they do) So if this is a “pick your poison” question…then I’d rather deal with a centralized pollution source (power plants) …than with the distributed one that we deal with when it comes to ICE cars.I’m pretty sure that bigger brains than ours will figure out remediation for that in short order too.Oh…and if you would’nt be a buyer for the the new E-Type EV…know that there are plenty of people lined up to part with 300k. Plenty of them were probably fans of the old E-type.I think anyone who would modify this particular E-type to EV might find themselves saving almost 200k with even a modest amount of mechanical savvy.And a coupla hook-ups on parts.
These so called bigger brains like most corporations are profit driven and will think nothing of using the consumer as a Guinie pig. I for one think that we are an arrogant speicies to think that we can control or have any great effect on the environment. Did you know that live stock globally put out more co2 than industry and cars, or all of us breathing out, 800 tons each annually times 6 + billion of us, the Pacific Ocean produces far more co2 then all of us combined. Or how about valcanos, Underwater volcanos are a factor in ocean temperatures. Or maybe you’ve herd of the little ice age where green land valcanic action caused around the globe contributing factor in dark age famines because plants weren’t getting enough light. A giant fisher open and created multiple valcanos that erupted for 8 months. This happened long before the Industrial Age. Nature is far bigger than man and will be controlling things long after you me and all the tree hungers are gone. you want to reduce co2 emissions stop cutting down the rain forest or maybe people around the world should stop having 10 kids in there families. Our activity isn’t the problem there are just to dam many of us that’s the problem are any of your bigger brained guys doing anything about that or are they bought off by large corporations. don’t believe me start your own investigation. I do a lot of reading on the topic. By the way this e type would look great restored but at what cost to the environment, the smart thing to do would be to recycle it, I wouldn’t want all those harmful material used to restore it getting into the environment.
A foot note to the EV car they may work great in your warmer climates but up here there not going to work worth a$h!t in cold semi artic weather where battary capacities are cut in half from the cold while needing some of that energy to heat the cars interior. Fossil fuels are not going away anytime soon.
4.2 is not period correct for a 64. Should have a 3.8.
4.2 was sold from May 1964 side by side to the last 3.8s! Despite owning a May 1964 dhc with numbers matching I dont know if the last 3.8s were sold with a rebate or when you got a 4.2 delivered. And yes my car has the written confirmation called “certificate” to proof delivery. US car that went to Tyrol almost 30 years ago!
I wonder how it made its way from Montreal, Canada to California….that would explain the rusted floors.
I have messed with these since the 1960’s. Saying an XKE is “fairly solid” is like saying your girlfriend’s STD is “almost” cured.
Will cost $100,000 to restore this,and when finished it’s non original,lousy electrics and poor brakes.
Oct 64 was the date for the intro of the 4.2 …so a 64 could be either. Just thought I’d drop in a pic of a 61 one with better paint to help with the dream.
It’s got the later (better) seats so unless they changed them too it is a period correct engine.
Seats are correct for a 4.2 64! As a 4.2 it should have the leather trimmed opposed to the alloy turned console, but thats missing. Interestingly I dedect the seatbacks beeing covered with carpet? That indicates a aftermarket seat cover or is the mohair velvet just crumpled? Still a worthwile project. I love mine! If you have never owned a decent one could you please hold back with your useless comments? As any car that has been neglected it will let you down. But if you have two right hands or a reliable workshop this car will fullfill your dreams. And one day sooner or later you will master the electrics! They are also much better than beeing told. I can look back 40 years with Brits, restored a couple and I am still not fed up with.
kind regards from wintery Tyrol
Back in the 70’s my friend who was a Wheeled & Dealer picked up a 64’Jag XKE with a bad clutch. We were on the Southern State Pky here in NY about 1:30 am flying along I looked over & saw we were doing 125 mph, felt like we were doing 60-70 never will forget that.