Pretty amazing E-Type "Barn Find" discovered in Arkansas by a good friend of mine. The Jaguar had not seen the light of day in over 30 years, but amazingly the engine fired right up with some fresh gas. The tires even still hold air! Preserve or restore? That will be the question......

It will be offered for sale in Scottsdale on Wednesday, January 18th by Worldwide Auctioneers.

1963 Jaguar XKE Series I OTS | Scottsdale Auction | Worldwide Auctioneers

 

I'd do a complete restoration, but aim for a stock look, over concourse.

 

It's rough.

I'm a big fan of "preserve" when the car is in good condition. In this case, IMO, all you'd be doing is preserving shabbiness. An E-type deserves better.

Cheers
DD

 

It's hard to say, but it just comes down to what are the buyer's intentions. Recently, there is a lot of interest in "barn finds", and most of the major concours now feature a "preservation" class. I would say that this car is a "tweener" - too rough to enjoy as a survivor" but it does have a lot of originality to it. Moreover, it does run and drive, although it would require a lot of mechanical work to make roadworthy.

To me, it has the "bones" to be a first class restoration candidate, which is what I think will be the end result. It does not have rust issues (short of superficial surface corrosion), and the car is largely intact and original.