8 year project nearing completion

[Brakebuster]

those who remember me will know i am over 8 years into a restoration project of an 89 V12 Coupe , this was a basket case rust bucket , but i could always visualise the end results ,

this XJS is my vision of what this car should be , and is not necessarily for the purist , i have taken away and added details from earlier and latter cars as i see fit , most of these were very subtle , but important to me

now , you have all seen the ' rusty project ' pictures, now is the time for the nice freshly painted ones

six weeks ago she was in the bodyshop having her new coat of paint in a very fresh modern colour ( not for the purist ) , this was a fully stripped down body , but still drivable , as all of the drivetrain and suspension has already been dealt with

now for the pics

fresh from the bodyshop


and the rear end , this was literally five minutes after coming off the low loader from the bodyshop


BB

[dhdove]

Vince

WELL DONE

I'm so pleased for you after all this time, its a credit to you that you have stuck to the task over the years - on the road for next season?

Many Congrats
TonyS

[Brakebuster]

in the intervening weeks i have been in the workshop till 9pm every night , and all weekend ,
after some research , and within the ethos of my ' self-build ' i installed the front and rear screens myself , these were brand new with brand new rubbers , and some correct non setting screen sealant , very messy stuff.....
60% of the exterior chrome is new, and the rest polished up ' as-new ' , i have fitted brand new rear lights and headlights, and all indicators are also new ,

i have a lot of step by step pictures, that i can post at a later date, but lets get right into the ' nearly finished ' ones , lol
this is a new boot lid , with new plinth , along with new chrome and rubbers , in fact everything you see in this picture is new, i have added a high level rear screen brake light , ( not for the purist ), the four separate Genuine Jaguarsport exhaust tips ( £58 each , ouch ) are fitted to a full Jaguarsport stainless exhaust system front to back


BB

Thanks Tony

[Brakebuster]

The doors took me a little longer , as i neglected to ask the bodyshop to black out the window surrounds , so two weeks ago my brother came round and did a Pro job on them along with some stand alone parts that needed blacking ,

then to build up the doors , the quarter-light windows were a PITA to install with the new brackets and rubbers, but i got there in the end, and they gave a lot of shape to the car, then it was the new window channel guides, the winders and all the door interior parts , a bit of jiggling on the hinges to get everything looking good and it was get them completed , the door handles on the outside are brand new , along with a new set of locks


BB

[Brakebuster]

as for the interior , i have always been struck by the original Mulberry double stitched higher leather content interior , but finding matching parts has been a struggle, i managed to get brand new door cards , this helped a lot , and i also got a large quantity of Mulberry vinyl ( Ambla ) which i used to cover smaller parts to lift the interior ,
the seats and carpets are in fantastic condition and the centre console is also fantastic , i did however put new Walnut inside , in fact i am on my third set of wood , each set looking more at home as i went ,
a few weeks of faffing around with the switches and lamps and relays ensured that everything now works within the car ,

As i have a genuine Jaguar factory fitted sunroof , the roof lining is nothing like the interior to other Coups , in fact , there is no headlining biscuit card at all , the headlinging is simply glued into place and tensioned by the cant rails and rear quarter trims, there is also a custom fitted rear screen trim to hold the material in place, again , along with my self-bild ethos, i did it myself , and am very happy with the results,


the image below was a few minutes before cutting out the sunroof , just to see what i had messed up if it all went wrong, lol


BB

[Brakebuster]

attention to detail is very important to me , its the small things............


the correct ' handbrake procedure ' sticker in the quarterlight , the rubber trim on the quarterlight frame to door body ,
( door handle pull not secured at this point ) interior door lock puller from a Pre-HE , i prefer the all chrome finish against the Mulberry , and a modern set of Vibe speakers to a Blaupunkt head unit and brand new treadplates , i also cover the A-post and B-post trims in genuine Jaguar leather , rather than the Ambla originally specified ( an old Jag in the breakers donated its seat panels with the aid of a stanley knife for the leather )

BB

[robv12]

one word, STUNNING, end of!!!

[Brakebuster]

thanks guys

one last pic of the interior for now, not the best image, but it will do


BB

[BigCatXJS]

Excellent !!!

(makes mental note to tap BB up for a magazine article)

[Car-Nut]

BB

Looks like you have done a great job…

Another Jaguar saved

Look forward to reading the article in the Magazine

[J44EAG]

Top job, Vince.

Well done. Very nice indeed.

Mike

[Brakebuster]

a quick pic from the front tonight


the TWR front bumper cover will go on once i have reconnected the oil cooler which had been bypassed , the original cooler was ripped out by a speed bump

then its secure the bodykit , and fit the front and rear fog lights, do some more Waxoyling , and finish trimming out the boot in black , which is unusual in its self for a HE model ,

BB

[Brakebuster]

thats it , the cats out the bag now........


lol

BB

[GordonJ]

Vince,
"stunning" is the word. Mighty difference to the day I saw the car in the garage a number of weeks ago.
Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.
My garage is completed now, finished I have 64squ m's of floor space and the car is now under cover. So as promised your old XJ8 is being well looked after. I'll add some pics shortly.

[PaulE]

An amazing achievment - congratulations on sticking with it. There must have been times when you thought that this time would never come.