Hello all... new to forum and jumping in with both feet. As I move into retirement, I decided to purchase a Series 3 Auto/Air (sitting since 1990) with a good body but in need of all mechanicals from Palm Springs. In the middle of rebuilding the V12 now... THAT'S a project!

Anyway, a 1970 Series 2 has come available to me virtually as a kit. The gentleman who owned it started to disassemble in in 1981 and got side tracked and then into aircraft and flying and there the Jag sat. It's body too appears to be good and I think he was attempting to have it repainted. He since passed away late last year and the family is selling the car. This one is a project for sure.

My question is, with all the research that I've done, to my understanding all series 2 E-Types had a VIN plate on the drivers side with 4 ID numbers. This car does not appear to have this plate at all AND, there's no holes on either side of the car where one would have come off assuming he was going to paint it. There is a tag on the door pillar with just a tag stating "Manufactured By Jaguar Cars".

These are straight up folks so I don't suspect any foul play but, I don't understand this. There has been no modification yet to existing paint or structure.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

I have a 1969 Series 2 and just looked at my plate again. The top numbers are the month and year the car was built. The bottom, in your case 1R***** is the car's serial number. Interestingly, my car is about 800 earlier from the one shown in the photo.

Here is a link to other locations for numbers:

https://forums.jag-lovers.com/t/e-ty...n-number/74656

That said, there are a whole lot of things that went on with these cars for which there is no explanation... my car was supposed to have a battery cell to run the clock, yet my clock runs off the car battery. The car in question may have been built for another country and then brought/sent to the US.

Here is a book that has helped me with putting things back together: ( and there are many other good books, as well)


Hope this helps

 

Hello Valerie,
Thanks for the reply... Thought I had most of the reference books... One more! Thanks

RE the VIN... there's simply no indication there was one. Very strange. We are in Oregon where a VIN inspection is required. I'll have to point out the door jamb as the position with the picture frame (matching) as a confirmation. Strange though.

 

They all came with numbers like you show: 1R27610 and nothing else (ie: not really a VIN). My jurisdiction just padded this number out so that they could enter it

 

Congratulations on taking on all this work... two lucky cars to have you save them! I bought mine when he was 20 years old and don't think anyone bodged him before I got him, so pretty sure he's original. If you need any photos or verification for an S2, just let me know.. happy to help as we all are on this forum.

 

17 digit VINs were introduced in 1981. Prior to that there was no standard. (Wikipedia has a good article.) My 1965 E-Type has a very short "VIN" also. At the time Jaguar called it the "Car Number", so its unique and serves as the equivalent of today's VIN - its really a serial number. When imported into California, my E-Type needed VIN verification by an inspector to check the VIN was in two-places on the car. It passed because the picture frame and data plate match. In my case California did not pad the Car number to make a VIN. I've done this twice with the same result. Good luck with the project!

 

The first is on the left-side door post and the second is under the heater box in the bonnet area.

Eric

 

Speaking of clocks, my brand new 1970 XKE had 4 clocks installed under warranty. Never heard of a separate battery. But back in the day I read in a Jaguar Club newsletter the solution to failing clocks was to have them degaussed. TV repair shops used to have the equipment.

 

I had the OE clock in the 69 worked on a few years back.. it runs...kinda OK... but if the car is parked any length of time not used, clock slows. I go back and forth with having it worked on again, having the guts replaced with modern electronics, or just leaving it alone and resetting the clock when pulling out the choke lever. Looked up degaussing a clock/watch, but nothing online that directly referenced a clock in a car.

 

Interesting that your clock runs slow when the car is left for a while - I guess it must run off the car battery.
Mine, like most Series 2 cars in the UK at least, runs off a 3V battery and tends to run fast when the battery starts to go flat which apparently is the norm.

 

Thinking back 52 years to my brand new 1970 and numerous warranty clock issues, as I recall the OEM clock is of the electro/mechanical design. It winds a spring using electricity and then the clock actually runs mechanically on the spring power. If it actually runs off the spring it shouldn't run fast or slow unless it needs adjustment or lubrication.

I believe the common problem I had with my clocks was getting stuck trying to wind the spring and wouldn't shut off the electricity once wound. As I mentioned, this was a common issue back then and the Jaguar Club newsletter published the solution recommending degaussing the clock. Back when we had TV tubes, rather than flat panels, degaussing equipment was available at every TV repair shop. I believe degaussing reduces magnetism. (The US Navy degausses entire ships to reduce vulnerability to magnetic sea mines.)

 

I certainly remember degaussing TV monitors back in the day when I was an engineer at a rather well known UK broadcaster. Great way to accidentally wipe a credit card strip if you waved the coil too close to your wallet if you left it on the desk.

Interesting to hear how the 1979 clock worked, mine stops immediately if power is removed so it must be a different type of mechanism. I am thinking about modifying it so that I run it from the main car battery via a voltage convertor as the batteries are not that easy to obtain, are quite expensive and only last about a year.

 

My suspicion is they had so much trouble with those clocks (I had 4 new ones under warranty) that they changed the design to be battery powered electric only.

The early Corvettes I have restored had problematic clocks too. So I bought very inexpensive clocks of similar size that were used in Mercury autos and swapped out the innards. Might be a good XKE alternative.

 

JDHT (Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust) which holds all the factory records, has a useful PDF on E-Type chassis numbers:
https://www.jaguarheritage.com/files...is_numbers.pdf

I won't attach the PDF here as it is copyright but an extract illustrates the chassis number, whilst not as informative as the later VIN system, is not simply sequential but is systematic enough to confirm model year, body style and engine:





The chassis number 1R27610 was assigned to a LHD Fixed-Head Coupe manufactured between January and October 1970 and fitted with with a 4.2 litre engine.

Graham