1966 Jaguar XKE

This is a car I’ve wanted for a long time.  It is a 1966 Series 1 E type jaguar with a 4.2 liter inline 6 cylinder.   During a long search for the perfect “E”  over the last couple of years I got into a discussion with the owner, a great guy named Marc Corea of MotorCarTrader.com, a specialist  in E type Jaguars.  Anyway we got to talking about what I was looking for and he told me he had this great car coming into the shop a 2/3 owner car from California with only 29,000 original miles.  I explained what I wanted and he is working with me to get it to a point where it will be an awesome driver /show car.

This car will be completely rebuilt to a 2+ level and can never be perfect because of the mods  we will be making.  The car will look just like the day it rolled in the showroom in LA but it will a little different under the skin.  The upgrades include a 5 speed versus 4 speed manual, newer headlamps, upgraded radiator and add-on fans, and most importantly air conditioning.  There will be a host of other mods as well so it can drive like new and still be true to the original engineering.

The Provenance — History of this Car

This car was made for the USA and shipped to the original owner in LA.  It was a custom order because the color combination of Opalescent Blue exterior and Tan interior was not a standard option.  The original owner was Harold C. Inglish, a doctor in North Hollywood, and it is believed he owned the car until his death in 1978.  The car then changed hands to a heir of Mr. Inglish or was sold to a third party before the previous owner purchased the car.  The story is that the previous owner, Mr. Eugene Starzl, in 1982 or 1983  saw it in filling station with a “FOR SALE” sign in the window. He had a conversation with the then owner that led to an immediate sale and the car promptly transferred hands.  Memories are not all that clear as both Mr. Inglish and Mr. Starzl are deceased so there is the possibility that the timeline could be a little bit different.

The car was moved from LA to Alabama in 19xx when the family moved.  previous owner’s son is about as excited as I am about the rebuild as he grew up around the car as his father bought it when he was just a boy.  Here is Eugene’s grandson behind the wheel

Here are a couple more photos of the car before Marc got it:

 

The Rebuilding Process

There are so many pictures taken during a rebuild that I am going to try to put them in some kind of order.  The following galleries cover the dis-assembly through the rebuild.  It is further broken down by  the different components like the engine and rear end and the body, interior, etc..  I will try to follow a logical order but things are never done in a linear sequence.

The Original Car

This is the best representation of how the car looked when Marc and Ken started working on the vehicle.  This was a really great body and running gear to work with as it would require minimal body work.

First the Disassembly

Taking the car apart is a long and tedious process in which everything has to be removed, cataloged and put on storage racks for the reassembly months later.  These pictures make it look far simpler than it really is and miss so many of the steps.