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I own alloy #670088. The car sat outside for several years and most if not all of the wood needs replacing. I would be very interested in the body if you decide to not restore the car.
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Ok, from what I can see, it is an alloy body grafted onto a firewall (scuttle) from a later steel body car. The big round holes in the upper side valence panels in the engine bay are characteristic of the alloy body cars. The heater box on the firewall (where the chassis number is written in marker) and the 4 holes for the bonnet hinges indicate the firewall is from a later steel car, as no alloy ever had a heater, and the bonnet hinges on the alloys were a different and poor design that was improved with the steel cars. Those triangular hinge pieces are from a later boot lid, not a bonnet, so probably some hacker's attempt to improve on the poor original alloy bonnet hinges. The location of the steering column passing through the firewall tells me the firewall is from a FHC or DHC.
The panel behind the battery boxes on an alloy should have stiffening Vee shaped dimples, so I suspect the battery area is also from a steel car, perhaps the same FHC.
I don't see any ID tags so it may be impossible to determine what car this body came from unless you find something written inside.
The front engine mounting is for early XK120 up to July 1952.
The rear mounting of the gearbox is not for any XK120.
The radiator is from a Mark 1 or 2.
The voltage regulator is from the late 1950s or early 60s.
The battery mounted on the chassis is not correct, as the car originally had two batteries behind the seats.
So it would be either a body donor for another alloy car or an interesting project, but only for an alloy expert like JK Restorations in Oswego Illinois.
My guess is the value is under $20,000.
Thanks for the assessment of the car. The previous owners story was that the car started out life as a 1949 alloy car, later became a race car, crashed and required a lot of chassis work so the chassis was replaced with a 1951 doner chassis as a quick and cheap fix. It was a race car so preserving the original car at that time was of no interest, it a race car. Later the owner up graded the engine with a mid '50's engine , once again, it's a race car. Then the car set, and in 1971 a new owner bought the car with grand plans of restoring and we all knows how that can turn out.
So the question is, does this story hold water?
Is it a 1949 alloy car with a replacement chassis and engine?
Or
Is it a 1951 steel car with a 1949 alloy body?
Comments?
Paul
The usual convention in the classic car world is that the chassis #679656 is "the car", and everything else including engine and body is "parts attached to the car".
So the short answer is it's an April 1952 car with an unidentified 1949-50 body and unknown engine and trans.
The other answer is "whatever it says on the title papers". Is it registered by chassis number or by engine number or by body number? At this point determining the body number is of major importance. It should be in the range F1001 to F1240. It may be written on the back of the instrument panel. If it turns out to be from a known surviving car, the current owner of that car may want to get it back.
An early 52 FHC chassis can be faked into becoming a 49 OTS chassis. There are differences in the little brackets welded onto it, particularly the front bumper mountings. A mid 50's engine can not be faked into becoming a 49 engine.
I think this is the first time you have mentioned that there is a data plate on the firewall. I don't see it in the pictures. Exactly what is on this data plate? Can you post a picture?
The chassis number already given is from a car that left the factory in April 1952. The last alloy body car left the factory in April 1950. So there is likely a mistake or anomaly in the paper trail for the California title. I wouldn't put too much faith in it. Model year is really not important with XK120s anyway. The important things are the serial numbers. Keep looking for the body number. There should be a chassis number stamped on the master cylinder mounting bracket.
The data plate had been removed and the previous owner only showed it to me after he dug it out of a box of spare parts. I took a picture of it and recorded the information, but I am currently on travel and don't have my notes with me. I'll post the data plate info as soon as I get home.
Currently I have the car in storage in CA and won't be there until Aug. but I'll check when I get back. I would assume the chassis number ithat is marked in ink is the same as the number you said was on the brake master cylinder bracket, but I didn't look. I'll check it out.
05-31-2015, 09:45 AM
