The GM Traumatic (as we called it in SA) ~ err Trimatic regularly dumped it's guts on the road here. Whoever drove your car must have got a fright when the BW35 dumped its guts & nearly put shrapnel through the tunnel.

 

I would not buy an S Type any later than a late 1966 with a Powr-Lok limited-slip differential ~ later deleted from the 3.4. Mine was built January 1966. No 4 off our local production line at CDA, East London & personally inspected by Lyons to ensure it was up to Jaguar standards (registered before built ~ those things happened here which is why I call it a '65). Today Mercedes Benz state of the art plant is on the same site & we have just built our millionth Benz car.

Our engines & bodies were better built than any Browns Lane product. Pressed Steel did a poor job of bodies and our engines were built using the latest state of the art equipment for the era payed for by the SA Taxpayer. Browns Lane used old junk from Standard & the Daimler purchase. Bodies were built over bucks provided by Browns Lane & not Pressed Steel. Our local content program was in Phase 2 i.e. 55% by weight prior to moving to a value formula.

By the XJ6 bodies were pressed here by Steelmobile.

 

Thanks for all your input, it is really helpful.

Saw the Golden Sand car again today but couldn't do the test drive because of really awful weather. Going back on Saturday for a drive.
It is in great condition, went round it with my magnet and all I can see/get to is solid. Wood is in great condition, engine started straight away (it was cold). General condition inside and out is better than the other car but as already mentioned this is a collectors car and the other has been driven. Door rubbers are not really rubber anymore but that is a minor detail.
It is missing its ID plate. When I asked the dealer he said that the owner does have it. I asked about the repeaters and apparently that is/was law in Italy (although it looks like a US import, need to do some more research) where the car was imported from 10 years ago. There the car was also part of a huge collection of cars owner by some dubious Italian "businessman" who went to jail and his collection was actioned by Southerby's (nice story anyway).

There is €4K difference in the asking price of the cars and I am pretty sure I can get the private seller of the maintained car down to €20K. I could probably get the car in the same condition in and out with the €5K. Such a shame the headlining has completely let go. Taking out the windscreen seems like a whole lot of pain and expense.

I need to go back and check out the maintained car again. I am going to take my time. If I need to wait for another one I will.

Just did some more research (well googled):


So part of the story matches.

I found it on the register. 1B 80311 DN

 

Removing and replacing a windscreen isn't really a big deal, you will almost certainly need a new rubber (I would change it anyway unless the old one is almost new) and the best way to get the old screen out is to remove the chrome trim and then cut round the rubber from outside and then just lift the screen out.

Putting it back I use furniture polish (Mr Sheen!) as the silicone in it makes it really easy to get in.

Personally I would buy based on the condition of the body, the wood and the interior, I wouldn't worry to much about the mechanicals as long as it drives well, the engine has good oil pressure and the gearbox and over drive work and are nice and quiet. Things like the suspension, brakes, carbs, exhaust etc. are fairly simple to rebuild or replace as required (albeit the rear brakes are probably an axle out job). It all depends on what you are able to do yourself and what you have to send out.

 

And if you are removing a screen I would remove the front as putting the rear windscreen chrome back in is a bitch. The chrome has to be glued in place where as the front chrome is easier pushing it in to its rebate. So many 1960s Jaguars can be seen driving around without the rear chrome in as the owners have just given up on it. A friend of ours on the S type forum hired a professional to fit his rear screen and chrome. After about six hours the guy walked away from it without fitting the chrome and did not charge for what he had done. I was given a tip by a restorer in the US who stated that he assembled the rubber on the glass with the chrome fitted into the rubber then offered the whole lot up to the car and used the rope technique to pull the rubber into place. Said the rubber saved its shape against the chrome and everything went in smoothly. This was after I had fitted my rear screen without the chrome and it was not until three years after my restoration that I finally got the rear chrome fitted. Definitely the hardest job I came across during my restoration.

 

Agree, my chrome is hanging on the garage wall, I looked at the rears and didn't even try and install it. I think the repro seals available now are slightly bigger than the original as well, I had a lot of trouble fitting the original glass back into the body after paint.

 

The only answer to the rear screen chrome cover is correct shaping and Loctite 480 & plenty of tape for a few days. It goes into a groove glass side but caps over the rubber body side. The windscreen is dead easy to take in and out. You have to take the windscreen out anyway because the Union Cloth lining has to go into the window rebate under the rubber or you end up with a mess as shown below.

Rear screen chrome PITA:

 

Glyn, that's interesting I had never noticed that the chrome only went into one groove in the rubber before. When my car is out of winter storage I'll have to post a photo of the seal, it clearly looks too large and bulges out at the corners.

 

I've not found the rear screen chromes much trouble to install in the past on either my S-Type or my MK2s, all I do is put some blobs of PU adhesive on the back on them (after cleaning the rubber with some paint pre clean) and then fit it and use the holes at the end of each piece of chrome and a thin piece of wire (mig wire or strip a copper cable) to tie it together. After a day or two I just cut the wire off, fit the chrome covers over the join and its job done.

 

JB ~ there are some bad rear window seals out there and of course if you have a heated rear screen it takes a different seal as the glass is thicker. Loctite 480 does a brilliant job. Some people recommend Sikaflex. I found it a disaster.

I finally used COH Baines seals. They are a perfect fit both back & front. Dumped the others in the trash. LOCTITE® 480™ is a rubber toughened adhesive with increased flexibility and peel strength. It is expensive here but worth every cent.


https://coh-baines.co.uk/

 

There is a Chap at Jag Lovers that considers fitting the rear screen chrome on an S Type to be an "evil" job.

Mk2 is a walk in the park by comparison.

 

There are only wiring holes in the chrome on very late S Types. e.g. 1966 cars have no holes in them. Why early S type front screen chrome strips required glueing to stop them from blowing off at high speed. The required Bostik adhesive in the Service Manual is long out of production.

 

I had my car & 2 donors. None of them had wiring holes under the centre chrome covers.

BTW ~ The COH Baines rubbers don't give you that lower front corner of the windscreen pullback issue that is so common. You still have to seat the bottom corners properly first though.

 

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My 1966 S-Type had holes in the rear chrome trim, in fact I still have the original ones that came off it hung up in the garage as I replaced them with better ones.

I also have another pair although not sure what year they are off and they have holes in them.

It would of course be a simple task to put holes in if for some reason the car didn't have them, I would think it odd though if they didn't have any holes as I always thought thats how they suspended them to chrome them originally?

 

Not so with most. I had 3 cars without. Drilling holes would become a rust target if you don't rechrome. I rechromed everything anyway.

 

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Example without hole. Front screen. Mk2

 

That's very interesting, I wonder why some don't have holes, were these made locally in SA or brought in from Coventry? My 59 MK2, 67 MK2, the 66 S-Type and the spare sets I have hanging up in the garage all have holes in them.

It would be simple to put the holes in if missing to make fitting easier and I don't think rust would be an issue as I thought these were chromed brass?

 

They came from Browns Lane as part of the CKD kit. We did things like tropical radiators from Silverton, Upholstery, Engines, Batteries, suspension parts & springs etc. Our local content program was in Phase 2 i.e. 55% by weight before we went for a value based formula. If you look on Ebay some have and some don't. I have no idea why. The first time I learned about holes was on Rob's (Cass') 1967/'68 car on the Register.

By the XJ6, bodies were pressed here by Steelmobile. We are large steel producers. If they are brass corrosion would not be a major issue although even the window frames corrode & pit & they are brass.