Do they come with the hub modification (sorry never dealt with wire wheels before)?

 

Bill Mac from doped fabric aircraft wing construction uses MEK or Acetone soaked cloth ~ wet and wrapped in tin foil to slow evaporation.
Then the lacquer literally wipes off. On no account use paint stripper. BASF/Glasurit will tell you how difficult it is to neutralise causing trouble down the line. Spirit stain to desired colour & then start numerous lacquer coats. Light sanding between coats.
We gave mine a very light sand but with 1200 grit. You need to bake or leave in the sun for a long while before final coats & polishing or the lacquer sinks into the soft grain. Explained in my thread below.

Then you will enjoy a finish like this

 

MWS Can supply the splined hubs & spinners. Take a good look at their site above for centre lock wheels.

 

They will probably do a package deal for you including all.

 

I am going to take a look at the Golden Sand car tomorrow. Now he says it is driving. Got a quote to add the EZ electric steering and it’s €2,500 including fitting so not too bad.

 

That Golden Sand car looks a bit hacked around & as I say is a US import ~ I think the wires draw one to it. But it pays to look around. I went to check many cars to find a totally rust free one. I like all the work that has been done on the other car & especially the IRS rebuild. Check as many cars as you can.

 

Refresh page for edit.

 

These are the only 2 in NL at the moment. There are a few more they they are more project cars from a dealer asking stupid prices. What jumps out at you about the Golden Sand one? The side mirror is ridiculous but what else? It is very original (no seat belts, no power steering, original ignition, toolkit). Boot is very tidy. The maintained one has the good upgrades.
I will visit the Golden Sand one tomorrow and then the other one the next day to really be able to compare.

The headliner is sagging on the maintained one. Looks like a pain to replace/repair.

Very true about the wires, they have a magnetic effect.

 

The other thing on the Golden Sand one are the Orange indicator repeaters stuck on the sides of the front fenders. Non standard & tacky. I would get rid of them & braze up the holes.

 

Like this:

 

On the basis of the photos, so I may be completely wrong and interpreting unfortunate reflections: The grey car might have had work on the right hand side front wing. That's not in itself a problem, but it looks as if the wing to radiator cowl joint has been smoothed with filler that's cracked. Again not necessarily a major defect, but can become more unsightly if the cracks get worse and it will not be cheap to strip back, make the joint sound, and smooth with lead. As I said, I may be completely wrong on this, but I'd give it a close look.

The ad mentions some garages that have worked on the car, GCS, RCR, and Boka. It may be worth asking them what they know about it.

My own opinion is that mirrors on the wings are not very useful. My car had them from new, but we removed them decades back ... but then there's more patching and painting.

 

There is lead wiping there that cracks frequently on the seams.

 

The entire grill is surrounded by lead wiping.

 

We dug out the lead and re-brazed my seams & then re wiped with lead in the forlorn hope that they don't crack again. 5 years on they are fine. The grills stand proud without the lead wiping & is a poor fit with gaps.

 

It's a difficult joint with one side much stiffer than the other and then the chrome to fit on top. The original work by Pressed Steel and Jaguar survived perfectly on my car. However, when the left wing was replaced, I'd guess they filled the joint with plenty of braze (that body shop used it by the boat load) and smoothed it over with a brittle bondo ( ... boat load again), which cracked in no time. The other side is still crack free after 61 years of hard use. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the rest of that wing, which is a story for another time.

 

I should note that my car had not cracked anywhere in 90,000 miles. We did all the seams known to give trouble including the C Pillar and where the outer sill meets the front fender and Grill obviously.

Example: Sill to fender. (Second respray). You can see media blaster coat (probably some form of red lead) as returned, white filler coat & first coat of BRG from first respray, clearcoat. Note zero rust.

 

Take a look across the borders into France and Belgium. There are several S Types for sale there and a lot cheaper. Later S Types are better cars so look for a 1967 or 1968 car. They came with the Adwest Power steering and BW35 auto gearbox. Manual cars of this age had the over drive and are more desirable. Seat belt fittings were standard front and rear on later cars. As it has been said get the best car you can afford but that does not mean the most expensive. Some people have an over inflated value of their car so don't play to them. Look for a car with the best body work (rust free) that you can find. Mechanicals are fairly cheap to repair compared to body work. Later cars the head lining was glued to a fibre board which was held up to the roof with screws under the wood surround. Easy to remove and fix but you do have to remove either the front or rear screen to get the fibre board out of the car. Lastly I totally agree with the wire wheels. Mine started with steel wheels but I converted to wires wheels after the restoration. The hubs are relatively cheap but a decent set of new stainless wire wheels will put you back over £1000.

 

Reload page ~ many minor changes.

 

I agree with the improved Varamatic steering & the BW35 but not the rest of the later cars where BL took the cheap route and even removed the front engine stabalisers which cost you a radiator. Fit & finish deteriorated ~ especially doors ~ the dies were worn out. Don't forget the cost of a complete rebuild of the IRS ~ an expensive repair job. Gluing the headlining to the dome is a PITA that I do agree but we did it and very well. I would not buy an Automatic of that era ~ they are all crap with the exception of the Chrysler Torqueflite. The 3.8 M/OD is the most valuable of the pack & the most desirable. Reflects clearly in the pricing.

 

Refresh page ~ lot's of changes this time.