I just discovered a xk120 1949 alloy body barn fine. All the parts are there, solid car, has been sitting for 35 years! Engine and trans are out of the car. It's a roller . What would this car be worth in current condition? Where do I search for a list of VIN numbers to see any history on this car? Thanks for any help getting this car back on the road in original with out a complete restoration.

 

Any photos ? Have you made an offer to purchase ? Only 240-odd of these cars were made before they went over to steel bodies, although the doors, trunk lid and hood stayed aluminium on the roadsters. Even "projects" fetch good money here in the UK, but I'm not sure about the US market, but probably similar.

VIN was not around in 1949, there was just engine and chassis numbers. The cam covers for early engines had no securing studs at the front of the cam covers. They leaked so Jaguar soon put some in (three) to hold the front of the cam covers down. I remember my friends steel 120 didn't have these studs.

 

Thanks for the reply. Ballpark, what would you call "good money"? One web site here was saying $25K or less , because of the grand cost to bring it back to life. The only 1949 alloy body car I can find for sale here that I can find wanted $600,000!!!!!!! It was very, very, very, nice, but really , $600,000!!
Thanks again.

 

Photos would be a great help, plus pics of the engine so we can see if it really is an early engine. These aluminium cars also had a wooden frame to hold the alloy panels. Make sure it really is an all-aluminium car, because remember what I said about the later steel cars having aluminium hood, doors and trunk lid.

Engine and chassis numbers should be the decider. As to a ball-park figure, a restored aluminium XK would be worth a very large sum of money so just to get hold of an unrestored example is going to cost several thousand dollars. Much depends on whether it is complete, but over $10k I'd say. The classic car market has gone berserk in recent years.

 

I got a better look at the car today. Aluminum skin over wood frame for the doors for sure. I could not see the engine as it's down in another shop. Instruments are all there, seats look good for not driving in 35 years. Dash looked like cheap wood but the owner said it was missing the leather-ish covering. Info plate has been remover, but owner said he has it. I'll get some pictures tomorrow and post them. Thanks for the help.

 

Have there been any price negotiations yet ? Any reason for the engine being out of the car ?

 

Still checking things out, I discovered the frame number and looks like the frame is from a 1951 car. This1949 alloy was a race car back in the day and must have had a crash which required a frame change. Also turns out they replaced the engine during its racing days, so the engine is not original. I am still working the deal, but this is not going to be a show car that I was hoping for.

 

It's beginning to sound a bit like the Irishman's knife - "good as when me grandfather bought it, its only had two new blades and a new handle in all that time" ! Anyway, even as a bit of a bitza, once restored it will still be worth a bit. If you can find the racing history even better. I am assuming the engine is an XK 3.4 straight six, just a later one.

What tells you it is a 1949 ?

 

There are two things that tell me it's a 1949, first that's the owners story, true or not, hard to say and the second is that the entire body is alloy. I went all over the body with a magnet and it's all alloy. But maybe is a1951 car with an alloy replacement body? I need to get the owner to did out the data plate, which he has packed away. And no he is on travel and won't be able to search for it for at least three weeks. I'm still interested and will let you know how this turns out.

 

Wikipedia on the XK120: -

Jaguar XK120 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is clear that although announced in late 1948 at the London Motor Show, production was quite slow in starting. Anyway, the 250-odd aluminium-bodied cars were made in 1949 and production finally went over to steel in early 1950. Hood, trunk lid and doors remained aluminium for the roadsters. So if the whole car is aluminium it is a 1949 or early 1950 but no later. The chassis was steel, of course. When cars get raced original parts can get replaced as owners seek more performance, or shunt the car badly.

 

Most important is the chassis frame number. It will be on the ID plate, which you absolutely must search high and low for. Without this original ID the identity of the car will always be questionable. The chassis number is also stamped in 1/2" high characters on the frame in front of the radiator, and on or near the bracket provided for a left hand brake master cylinder, regardless of whether the car is left or right hand drive. It is a six digit number beginning with a 6. Please post it when you find it and we can tell you more about the car.

 

Well I finally got the original id plate for the car. Turns out the frame and fire wall are listed on the id plate as a 1951, steel body car. The engine number on the id plate doesn't match the engine number. Also the fire wall is steel. So it's looking to me like its a 1951 car that had an aluminum body fitted some time back in its racing days in the 1950's. So I think the value of the car is no where I had hoped it would be. But on the bright side, there is that I would have a complete alloy body, complete engine and trans and rolling chassis along with a bunch of other parts to make a driving car, but with no real historic value. Thoughts?

 

Did you buy the car? When you say the frame and firewall are 1951 what information source are you using to determine that? Some information sources are more accurate than others. When you say the frame and firewall match the ID plate, I assume you mean there is a little metal tag riveted to the firewall with a letter F and four numerals? This is the body number. It would help if you could post all the numbers you find and we can help you figure out what you have.
The usual convention is that the chassis frame number is the identity of "the car", and in most jurisdictions is used as the registration, and everything else is parts attached to the car. But some states used to register cars by engine number.
Aluminum body cars had wood framing inside the body all around the rear deck.
Steel body cars had aluminum hood (UK = bonnet), aluminum doors (with wood framing inside), and aluminum trunk lid (UK = boot lid, also with wood framing inside it). The remainder of the body was steel with no wood framing inside it.
But of course body parts could have been replaced with either new parts from a dealer or used parts from a derelict.

 

Thanks for the comments. There is a small metal tag mounted on the left hand side if the fire wall that reads, J1661, and there is a number on the frame that reads 679656. Both of these numbers agree with the data plate which is mounted on the right hand side of the fire wall. The data plate also reads B4793-8 (I think as it's very hard to read) and the gearbox reads C-10466 (once again hard to read). The engine I have has a head number of 7B55130 9, I have not been able to see the engine block number or the gearbox number because of where the engine is located (sitting under garage clutter).
I was using the ajar-Lovers Web site as a source for checking data and the information they have listed. I double checked all the body with a magnet and all the sheet metal is aluminum, with the exception of the firewall, the battery boxes and the rear inner fender wallis, which are rusted.
So, knowing the car was a very active race car back in the day, I assumed some one ended up pulling the alloy body off a tired or wrecked alloy car and drop in it on a fresh steel body rolling chassis. The engine must have came from a third doner car.
So, where does that leave the value of this car? If it was a numbers matching steel body barn fine, I would say $10-15K USD, based on the value of a fully restored steel car going for $50-80K USD. Fully restored alloy cars are running $700-400K USD in the USA.
The owner now knows he does not have a very valuable Alloy Jag, but it is still an interesting car, with the original alloy body. So I was thinking of offering $10-20K USD, thinking the original alloy body and the engine/gearbox are worth at least that.
Thoughts?

 

Looks like I fat- fingered the Jag-lovers Web. That is my source for XK120 data.

 

Ok great. Chassis number 679656 is a Left Hand Drive Fixed Head Coupe made in April 1952. LHD FHC chassis numbers began at 679001 so that one is the 656th made. FHCs had body numbers beginning with J1001 so J1661 is the 661st FHC body made, and since they only made two RHD FHCs in that time period the body number is reasonably consistent with the chassis number.
The correct engine number should normally begin with a letter W or F and I would expect one from April 52 to be between W4700 and W4900. The -8 after the four numerals indicates the compression ratio of the pistons originally fitted.
The gearbox number for an April 52 car should normally begin with JL and will be found on the top cover and the left hand side near the top rear corner.
Head 7B55130-9 is from a 3.8 S-type saloon from the late 1960s.
The original identity of the body may well be impossible to determine unless you happen to find a number hand written on the back of some of the parts. The back of the instrument panel and the upholstery covering of the seats often had the body number written in crayon or pencil.

 

Thanks for data mining this information for me. Looks like this car lead the life of an active race car back in the day, and went through a lot of major replacement parts. So the big question is what is it worth in the barn find condition and what will it be worth after MUCH $$$$ is thrown at it to restore it ? My guess is that when restored it will be worth less that it will take to restore it. :-(
Thanks again

 

Well, that applies to most classic cars. If one is going to restore a car, it should be a labour of love, not a way of making up your pension pot !

 

Yes, not many people can make a profit on restoring a 120 unless its something special, and fairly complete. A tired old race car is not likely to be a very complete candidate for a concours restoration. Depending on who raced this one, the race mods could be well done or poorly done. Still, vintage racing can be fun.

However, if the body really turns out to be from one of the original 240 alloy cars, it would be worth investigating further. The original chassis from that car might still be around somewhere, and reuniting the two would bring the value into the viable restoration realm. Most of the alloys are either well known or their fate is known, so it might be possible to figure out where the body came from. If you could post some detailed pictures perhaps we could find some experts who would recognize detail features and identify it, or at least be able to narrow the field. There are such experts who read the jag-lovers.org XK forum.

Also you might check the engine block and gearbox serial numbers, in case they came from the alloy car. The block number is on the horizontal shelf where the oil filter is attached, and the gearbox number is on the top cover just ahead of the shifter.

 

Please call me I am in the market to purchase one and if you don't buy it I will pay a finders fee if we can work a deal out on it (443)322-6306