Miss Kitty - 1965 Jaguar S-Type 3.8 RHD

[DevilDog]

The below post was from November 18, 2014. It is in the archive forum. I thought I would repost here so I can provide updates to Miss Kitty's transformation. Sorry I have been so quiet.....one hell of a project.

When I go to car shows, all I see are Mustangs, Corvettes, Hemi's, Chevys, etc.. I wanted something unique and special. This Summer, I purchased a 1997 Jaguar VDP and it is now my daily driver and I love the drive. When I was stationed on Okinawa in 1987, my daily driver was a RHD Toyota Corolla. I fell in love with the RHD. I tried to export the Toyota to the U.S., but all of the glass and tires would have needed to be changed to DOT approved glass and tires. Tooooo expensive. Almost 25 years later, I found a 1965 Jaguar 3.8S Manual w/OD and RHD advertised on Hemmings. Well, that was it and I was on my way to Wilmington, NC.

The Jag was imported to the U. S. in 1987. It was first manufactured on May 5, 1965 and was dispatched on May 14, 1965 to Henleys, London. The car was sold to Murtile, LTD, an investment company. It's original Registration Mark was EYT 81 C. The Chassis Number is: 1B 54554 DN and its original color was Opalescence Dark Green with Suede Green interior.

The owner parked it in his garage and it basically sat for 27 years. He only drove the car 311 miles in the past 19 years. The car had only 31,826 original miles. Surprisingly, the car started, but soon stalled after a few seconds. We agreed on a price and I rented a U-Haul transport and I was on my way home with my "Miss Kitty." Then, in central Tennessee, my Dodge Durango's engine blew and I had to towed back to Missouri. The price of Miss Kitty just skyrocketed.

Both cars were towed to my happy mechanic and he replaced the Durango's engine with a rebuilt one and was able to get Miss Kitty running using lots and lots of Seafoam. The points, plugs, condenser, filters, and fluids were replaced and I drove my Miss Kitty home last week. What a drive. It was in the 20's so Miss Kitty went right into her climate controlled garage. Should have taken some better pictures. Most of the seats are out and being oiled up. The rugs and felt are out and the floor pan is in excellent condition. Ten pieces of wood have been removed and tagged. The trunk only has only a couple of rust spots. The underbelly has only surface rust. My happy mechanic and body man did their inspections and are putting together their estimates and work plan. Hopefully, if I can sell my bass boat, Miss Kitty may be on her way to restoration and future car shows. Hope to restore her to an original state; however, part availability will ultimately rule in that decision.

Here are pictures of Miss Kitty when she finally made it to Missouri and was parked in my mechanics garage. Click on the link below:

http://x.co/5rCFP

[DevilDog]

Here is the latest.....

Miss Kitty's body work is almost complete....hopefully one more week. Total $10K.

Miss Kitty's chrome is being redone at a cost of $12K. Ready in about 4 months.

All of the wood has been completely redone. Total $4500.

Hopefully, we should be painting her within a month. Disassembly, paint, and reassembly estimate: $10K

Bids for a complete new interior (plus boot) have been received. $6,200 is best bid. Installation cost: TBD

Miscellaneous parts for entire car so far: $4K

Engine and suspension restoration cost: $20. Won a 9mm Kimber pistol in a raffle and traded for the work. Lucky me.

If you want to completely restore a Jag like ours.....be prepared to spend some $$$$.

Take care....

[Jose]

Joe I was wondering what had happened. Good to hear you're still at it. It's only money, enjoy it.

[DevilDog]

Thanks Jose.....when this forum went down, I relied more on Facebook updates. Will try to do both now that this forum is active once again.

[Tom Hoffman]

Joe,

Thanks for the breakdown of costs. Most of us have only a vague idea of what it takes to restore these cars. When you're done I hope you can post all you can about costs and availability.

[cass3958]

I was quite shocked by the costs quoted by Joe. Admittedly I did a lot of the work myself when I restored my car but I also made a lot of friends with people who could help and had the skills I did not have. ie I did not have to pay them. I bought my car for £4500 but I knew it was a solid shell as it had already had £2500 worth of welding done to it which included new sills, two front wings and rear wing lower repair panels which had cost the previous owner £2500 to buy. All the bright ware was with the car and OK, the interior was intact apart from carpets and roof lining. The wood was all intact but needed rubbing down and varnishing. I had no idea about the condition of the engine and gear box or the running gear as it had been sat for ten years.
I spent £500 having the shell grit blasted once I had stripped it down. I had to have the engine re-bored with new bearings and pistons at a cost of just over £1000 but stripped it down and reassembled it. The Gearbox cost just under £1000 to rebuild a dark art I know nothing about. The sub frames were refurbished for £250 with new bearings and brake parts. The body work and paint cost about £1000 as I did this myself with the use of a mate’s workshop and paint booth. New carpets and head lining were £300 which I fitted. The seats were perfect apart from the driver’s seat which looked like the only seat to have been used and I bought new covers and foam for this seat for £200. New rubber seals and hoses all around for £100. I had the radiator re-cored for £175.
I spent many an hour stripping and rebuilding the car in four different mate’s workshops across Devon as they all had different skills I could lean on. The car took me 16 months to rebuild working three days a week on it and in total I spent £10500 which included the purchase price. Who knows what the car is worth now but I think I am in profit.
Joe's calculations stand at $47000 or £34000 and the engine and gear box have not been touched yet. I know we should never put a value on saving these beautiful cars and to some it’s a hobby that they tinker at for years before the car is finished but what shocks me here is the cost of the labour and the inordinate time it is taking for them to do the work. In the UK garages are now charging well over £50 an hour for work on a classic car and it is getting to the stage where they are over pricing their work in relation to the value of the car. Owners are not going to pay these prices much longer and these cars are just going to sit and rot because it is not economical to restore them anymore.
Just my thoughts.

[NigelW]

I'm glad I'm not starting all this now looking at those costs. My car cost me £80 (a week's wage back then) and been a rolling restoration ever since, never being off the road more than a few months at a time. Looking at the numbers I've spent less than £10000 over the last 42 years doing most of the work myself.

[Jose]

it never fails:

a 15-minute job takes 3 hours,

a 6 month restoration takes 3 years,

a $3,000.00 car costs $55.000.00 to restore.

By the time it is done, you are tired of sorting problems and want to sell it.

The moral of the story? Buy a restored car.

[cass3958]

So true Jose, Let someone else do the work and pay for it.
Whilst we are on the subject though I also cringe at the price people are asking for what is essentially a wreck. Their thoughts are that completely restored the car is worth £30000 so as a wreck it must be worth £5000. There should be a law against people who allow their cars to get in to that sort of state in the first place and then another law that says if the car is not road worthy anyone can just take it away to restore.
I have a guy who lives 200 yards from my house. I have lived here now for 25 years and in all that time he has had an Austin Healey Frog eyed Sprite parked on his driveway. It has never been on the road but he did drive it on to his drive and then left it there. It has had numerous covers over the top as its out in the open which have disintegrated over the years. He has had numerous offers to buy the car including some from me but has declined. When I finished my S Type a drove around to show him my car and at the same time offered to take the Frog Eye away and restore it at my own expense but he again declined. The man is a tool and needs to be taken out the back and given a good shoeing.
Rant over.

[NigelW]

Buying a restored .car doesn't always pay off as I found out last year. The MG Frogeye conversation I bought was supposedly built on a restored car, you can see from the photos what emerged when I dug into it and removed the filler, window putty and expanding foam from the chassis. It had bills from a "reputable" MG specialist totalling £1000 for welding, I pulled off the patch panels with my hands - no tools needed! Just about every thing I've touched so far has been wrong and taken a lot time and money to sort out, with still a fair bit to do.