UPDATE! 1969 Jaguar E-Type Barn Find Uncovered In NY
UPDATE – Not quite a year later and Victor finally has this E-Type done! It turned out beautifully, so if you’d love to see the finished product, you can see it below!
FROM 11/09/2018 – Reader Victor L recently sent us the story of his barn find and it’s a cool one. While it’s not Shelby GT350H, it is a beautiful Jaguar E-Type Roadster! He found this car in a barn in Upstate New York with cardboard covering it back in 2004. The owner was interested in selling it then, but Victor passed as he already had a Jaguar E-Type. Well, over 10 years later and the car was still on his mind. He randomly stopped by to see the car again and ended up buying it!
Here’s Victor’s story in his own words:
I first saw the car in 2004 when I was looking at barns upstate. The car had been in the barn for at least 5 years by then. The owner bought it in 1971 and had driven it until around the mid 90’s when he moved upstate to retire. He was an ex-aircraft carrier engineer and had done some “tinkering” with it and then stopped driving it because of various mechanical problems. I already had a 1969 S2, but the thought of restoring this one was always at the back of my mind.
On a whim, I stopped at the barn last year and it was still there under the cardboard! I decided to buy it, and have been working on it since. Here’s the work that’s been done so far.
Replaced: Points, plugs, condenser, master brake cylinder, front brakes, headers, and complete exhaust system, light switches, tires, fuel pump, fuel filter, radiator (not yet installed), thermostat, hoses, wipers. Fixed the cylinder head compression, moved the mice out of the air filter and rebuilt the triple SU carbs as well as the original steering wheel. It did finally run, but overheated, hence the new radiator.Hopefully, that should be all for now and it goes to the body shop for a respray later this month. The body is solid with only surface rust, and I have been able to resurrect the chrome. The plan is to get it back by January and spend the rest of the winter detailing and fixing any other problems.
I for one can’t wait to see this car once the restoration is completed! You don’t see too many in this color combo, so hopefully, Victor is going to be repainting it in its original color. I look forward to seeing photos of it come spring!
Victor didn’t like the color the car originally was, so he had it stripped down to the bare body and prepped for a full-color change.
He decided to have it painted British Racing Green and it sure looks great with the red interior! Honestly, you really can’t ever go wrong with BRG on an E-Type.
Do you have a cool barn find sitting in your garage? How about a sighting along the side of the road? Where ever you found it, we would love to share its story with the world! You can send your photos and the story to [email protected] and we will post it for all your fellow Barn Finders to enjoy, or be jealous of!
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Comments
That is a stunning find – and if he has had one before will know the way to resurrecting this one. Please keep the original color.
Entering info off his data plate onto:
http://www.xkedata.com/cars/?e=2
will be a good source of info too.
What a dream car!
Back-to-back vintage E-Types? Let’s try for three!
challenge accepted:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-Jaguar-XK-Series-I-Roadster/223153179067?hash=item33f4f749bb:g:HRUAAOSwzjtbopbd&vxp=mtr
tires look road worthy.
lol!
“Upstate” New York means different things depending on your vantage point. To a Manhattanite it probably means anything north of Central Park. I’m guessing Hudson Valley location. Great place for some nice drives in the fall. Unless the rain is coming in sideways at about 50mph as it was a few weekends ago. We stepped out of our car and two out of three umbrellas exploded. This post has absolutely nothing to do with this car, but I like to share from time to time. My doctor tells me it’s good for me.
Your words are quite true. I’m 2+ hours north of the “City” and we generally consider and hour and a half north of Manhattan the start of “upstate”……give or take. It’s lovely up here (but relatively expensive for living in the country) and has very variable weather, as you found out. While lots of the cool old field finds have been scrapped, there are still plenty of cool vehicles and equipment hiding in barns up here. My father in law in western CT has a Series 3 coupe and Delorean hiding in his enclosed barn/garage for the past 25 years.
I would say “Crazy” expensive. We were scouting some possible retirement locations up near Albany this summer and New Paltz a few weeks ago. We will be retiring in Rochester.
Hey Rustowner you must be in my neck of the woods I am in Greene County- Ike you looked in some expensive areas- you should check out by me- lots of affordable options with plenty of beautiful Catskills goodness!
I know funny. Upstate can mean Syracuse. Binghamton. Rochester. And many in between.
I find these things hideous for some strange reason. Nose is just too damn long. I know v-12, but still. I do love the color combo though I hope you stick with it.
6
This is a straight 6, not a V 12
And that Jag 6 block is as heavy cast as a Perkins diesel 6 !
we are working on one in the shop now.
I would have to say you are in the minority of commentors on the E-type design. It would be tough to count the number of art and design museums that have displayed E-types as exemplars of great design, But I get it. I love the C3 Corvette shape that many folks believe is both hideous and vulgar.I can’t understand why.
Frank – It’s a Corvette so of course you’re right and anyone who doesn’t like it is wrong.
It’s so simple when you think about it.
Capriest – a 1969 is a 4.2 litre straight 6 cylinder engine.
Greetings All,
The tail lights say the car is a Series 2.
I was under the impression that S2 cars had Zenith Strombergs by now, though I understand why people changed them out.
The only drawback………..those tail lights and signal lights seemed an afterthought done at the last minute to meet Federal Regs.
If that last picture is how the car looks right now, why paint it? It looks great just like that.
Man, I love that color combo!
Dear Victor L,
I wouldn’t mind the double Q historic licence plate if you do not want/need it …How much?
My Christian name starts with the letter Q…..
Nevis Beeman,
If you want an expired “QQ” license plate, all ya gotta do is talk with vintage car owners in New Jersey, as ALL the antique car license plates in that state have the “QQ” designation.
Can a front end really EVER be too long ????
Says the owner of E’s ,Corvettes,and a 66 Toronado !
Don’t forget the long nose Duesenberg, Packard 12 & 8, Cadillac, Imperial, Pierce Arrow and Jimmy Durante.
Sorry, but I would have repainted in the original color. very nice and understated. I mean how many of these do you see that are repainted BRG?
I love these cars and I’m glad another was saved BUT:
I guess victor is color blind….. Green with a red interior? What its Christmas?
It is XMas for Victor
Well I love BRG as much as the next guy and actually think a red interior goes with just about every color from white to black. However i would not have changed that original color. I would have repainted but kept that off white, beige, cream whatever it is. IMHO.
Great story and Thanks
Super sexy…nice job, Victor!
I would take this beautiful BRG E Type over any Shelby GT350H, in any colour, any time! Well done Victor. Great job.
Love the car.Love the restoration.We all have our preferences but restoration means restoration..I would have painted it in the original color or red.I am presently restoring my mom’s car.My dad bought her a 1985 Buick LeSabre.In 1987 GM sent letters to 1985 owners that there was some type of chemical deficiency that would cause the paint to fade and deteriorate prematurely.GM sent owners of those vehicles a $1000.00 check to have the cars repainted.The car was originally a beautiful blue.Anybody out there remember “Earl Scheib”?).My dad took my mom’s car and had it painted the cheapest black that Earl Schieb had available and no clear coat.My mom was not really keen to the fact about cheap or expensive paint jobs and my dad knew that it would probably look good for awhile so he had no fear of her questioning him.I have the car now that I am presently restoring and I will restore it in it’s original blue color.Because it was such a cheap application and since the door jams were not painted along with many of the other areas of the car the blue is easily visable.I am so lucky in one sense and that miraculously there is absolutely no evidence of rust.It was garaged but how it escaped any rust at all is a wonder since its’ home city was St.Louis,Mo.”Crapiest” and other naysayers I love the E-Types and C-3’s.Anyway Victor don’t allow me to distract from your wonderful and expensive work.Would I accept this car if it were given to me?Absolutely.Would I drive it with chest pounding pride? Absolutely,long nose,green color and all.I love it.Go forward Victor.
Color change? Forgetaboutit!!!! Just like so many Shelby Mustangs that we’re that ugly lime gold/green and now a different color and and and are for sale! NOPE!
Nice to find an orig NJ / NY car that is not a rust bucket. How much is into it now?
Funny, found upstate NY with NJ plates