The fact is that it's very easy to pick holes in even the very best cars from half a century ago. My own limited experience of the likes of Aston Martin and Mercedes of that era is that though they had certain special qualities, finish or a sense of being machined from the solid, they weren't great drives by any means - I'd prefer to drive a Ford. When I look at the details of my Mk2, I'd say some of the body was welded by monkeys wearing blindfolds. I've lived with Alfas and Fords - did they pre-oxidise the steel? And were Austins designed to promote the sale of travel sickness pills. Basically, given the budget, you can make a looks-like or a resto-mod that will beat any old car out of sight on every measure. But do you like it? Is it worth the effort compared with buying a relatively modern car? I think that the Speedback uses a lot of modern XK parts. Why not save up and buy an old XKR?

The choices are entirely up to the individual. If the replicas and quasi-hotrods help to maintain the classic car business, provide opportunities for craftsmen and artisan engineers to work, then they probably benefit all of us. At least, so long as they don't price the whole hobby totally out of reach of all but the super rich.

 

Or even better: Norman Dewis, at Le Mans in 1955, 6,200 rev/min, 192 m/h.

 

A "Dung Beetle" by any chance? The lines could have been lifted direct from a Scarabaeinae version of the species.

I get to drive an Aston DB6 Vantage in pristine condition from time to time. It is a very nice & civilised drive with a fair turn of performance & better handling than one might expect. The ZF manual transmission that came as standard is great. Owned by a lady BTW ~ this is not only a men's hobby. She spends her life getting speeding fines. It's good for 150/155 mph.

 

The DB6 is certainly the best of the whole series though, without the the aura of Bond or GT racing, it has been the least widely appreciated and sought after. I used to know a nice one that up to a few years ago was kept in a rather exposed street parking space - unthinkable with a DB4 or 5.

 

Yes ~ I'm always out of step e.g. S Type vs Mk2. I love the DB6 MkII Vantage with it's Kamm tail. Everybody else is a DB5 or DB4 GT fan. There was little difference in the underpinnings of the final iteration of the DB 5 & the 6 other than the longer chassis & the obvious cosmetic changes & less Superleggera in the construction. I owned a really tired DB6 short chassis Volante non runner (built on the final 5 chassis) that I bought as a kid in an insolvent estate ~ it had little value in those days. One of 37 produced. It required total restoration that I could not afford back then so I finally let it go to a guy that just threw money at it. A decision that I regret to this day. The DB6 I get to drive is a Mk1 Vantage without the flared arches & larger hubs.

 

In 1971-72, I had the opportunity of a share in a Merc 300SL Gullwing. It was with a local dealer when I was an undergraduate. It looked very good in every way. One of the other two potential investors was relatively well off and on good terms with the dealer having bought a couple of MGs, so we were trusted with a test drive. It may be that I expected too much of it or mechanically it wasn't as nearly good as it looked, but I didn't like it to drive, especially the steering (and that's from someone who learnt on a Mk2). So I said no and the other two decided to accept my view. If either of them reads this - I really am sorry! A few years later, I though a beautiful Series 1 E type roadster was too expensive at £1,000. And the there was the Jensen 541R.. :-(

 

Yes ~ I've driven the flawed Gullwing. Benz was broke at the time. It was cobbled together on a basic saloon chassis. The rear swing axle was a horror. The 300SL Roadster was a far better car. Proper rear suspension etc.

At the prices Gullwings command now I guess we can't always give wise advice.

 

I suppose anything is possible, given the number of coach builders still around at the time.
HJ Mulliner was the most common and Park Ward _ I don't think Park Ward did a fast back though.
Franay of Paris did one too, a fast back, but not fully skirted rear fenders.

Any of which could have had faux wood on aluminum, mainly because anyone could have requested such a thing.
In the end it doesn't make sense though, you're not going to save much weight doing that compared to the real thing.
Very labour intensive too, it's easier to use real book matched wood then to simulate a grain pattern by hand.
Photo finish would be quicker though, but still, I just can't see that.

I would like to see the article _ it's also possible some earlier restoration took place where someone could not get the right veneer and they got creative.

 

Jeff, I doubt it would save weight over veneer onto light plywood. I also doubt that it would save cost as the print transfer would have been difficult in the 1950s. Possibly they had to use aluminium as the support material and had doubts about gluing veneer to it. My experience with my Daimler is that veneer often doesn't adhere as well to metal as to wood. It's also very possible that the article was wrong or my memory is letting me down and the car wasn't a 1950s Continental. Where I read it - well I've been reading this kind of stuff since before the Beatles ...

 

Never really thought of what kind of beetle; yeah sure, a Dung beetle.
A Scarab is a little more romantic, I'll go with Scarab.

Yes, civilized Aston Martin _ a gentleman's car, or lady.
In Canada if you get too many speeding tickets, I think they take you car away, at any rate one starts wracking up points, 3 points for each ticket and you lose them after 5 years.
One starts off with 4 points grace, then your insurance starts to climb, some people are paying well over 5k or more a year.
If one wants tp speed, you have to take note when the cops around, and you can't keep speeding at the same time of day because they'll be waiting for you.
Excessive speeding over 40k of the speed limit and you get your car taken away for an X amount of time.
If that continues, you lose your license _ I think it eventually becomes permanent.
I think they even keep the car after a while.

The cops and the insurance companies would have everyone believe that speed kills, it's inattentive driving.
The dangerous part, people are used to pissing around in their cars not paying attention properly and most can get away with it because they're going slow enough to rescue themselves.
It's when they drive fast and they're not used to that.

How do these people in Canada's Worst Drivers even get their license in the first place ?

 

Scarab is good enough ~ LOL. Yes I know Canadian practices. We have a lot of family in Canada. We are way behind in that regard. The best we do is cameras that take an average speed over a specific distance & we all know where they are & have a network of informers on casual speedtraps. My car's Navigation even warns you.

I guess we will catch up one day. Most accidents here are caused by drunk or drugged pedestrians. Our traffic accident stats are awful but they are more interested in revenue generation from fines.

 

Everyone will have their own opinion and it is not really nice to poke holes just because you have different taste. For me yes I love high performance but I do appreciate folks that are also car guys from cars I would never own such as a monster truck to a low rider, etc. but to me I appreciate everyone's unique creativity and work they have done on their cars.

The reality is there are fewer and fewer people whom want just stock cars. The restomods to customs do keep the value of cars like the Jaguar from depreciating. The work that these folks in the UK have done to their clients custom Jaguar is impressive. Not everyone wants wood as some are scared about wood if you were in an accident. I do agree with others as my preference is for real wood and for me I like the more sleeper build that I have done but there are many pieces they created that would be cool to have that would still keep my car a sleeper and more stock from the outside but I doubt they would ever offer those to the general public. It does give people ideas on what can be done if money was not a concern. On the dash I sense that the direction they went was due to the owner wanting the wood look but with more modern lines, and other features; regardless of where you are on wood, it still looks very good as from looking at it you would not say it was made out of metal. Many people, not myself, would rather have that custom metal that looked like real high quality wood for safety, and other reasons.

To each their own, but this is still one impressive Jaguar and there are more people whom would find this car cool than a bone stock Jag...

 

Regarding depreciation. In SA & many European countries, modifying cars new or old trashes their value. Leaving decent classics stock gives them ongoing appreciation.

New cars always depreciate quickly but mods make it worse in many countries. If I modified my Merc I would halve it's value overnight. Mercs maintain value very well here as do Porsche's. But to achieve top dollar prospective buyers want them unmolested & the service book stamped at every service by the agents.

 

Glyn,
I know you are anti-mods what you say used to be the trend but now it is not. Today the numbers matching cars are not increasing but decreasing that is the new trend for the last 5 years or so. The reality is the younger generation does not want to drive a car that has that old feel and the ones that valued unmolested like you are getting old and most of the car world is more for some variation of mild to more custom classics. A unmolested stock car just plain drives terribly as everyone expects a higher level of performance. When the bottom of the line Toyota or Fords handle better, and are faster by a large margin that your stock classic, you can see why you are in a minority of an aging group of car lovers. It takes a lot of cash to build a car to a concourse level but that car is driven very few miles as the car is just not comfortable or reliable to go on long drives. That is not what most want to drive nor waste money on a car that is rarely driven, and less and less people want that which is why you see the values going down. Restomods done well are commanding much more money and numbers matching cars are doping in resale.

This thread is about a cool, high level custom Jaguar. We all know you hate anything modified but it is not cool to highjack every thread that you do not agree with. What I have found with Jaguars is that there are more snobs out there that are just plain snooty. I do not see that kind of attitude with other car lovers... If you do not agree with a thread do not be a snob and try to push your views when the thread is not about your view at all.

 

You obviously have no clue. The inline 6 Jag motor even built up with forged internals, and fully blueprinted will barely get 300 at that is not a street friendly engine. A JZ or RB motor without even full internal mods like will easily put down 500HP and when you use forged internals and do a true blueprinted engine they will produce 700-1000 yet are capable of running on pump gas and stop and go. The Jaguar 6 will NOT remotely come close the HP that the JZ or RB engines will and that is a fact.

Dude if you think a Jaguar MK2 at Goodwood is faster than a JZ or RB engine please send me the title for your house as the Jag engine does not put any HP numbers remotely close. I never mentioned the Datsun 240Z but since you did, the 240Z thru the 280Z, 8 years straight won the SCCA national championship 8 years straight and no Jaguar was as fast. A Datsun 240z single cam engine will put down more HP and more reliable HP than the Jag 6 that is a fact. Also you are incorrect the 240Z produced 151 HP in stock US trim, the limited edition Japanese Z432 240Z had 160HP in stock trim. My street 240Z has more HP than the MK2 Jag race engine and that is reality dude.

 

My memory has let me down a few times lately, but didn't a single, obsolete, 15 year old, XK engined E type make a whole field of highly developed 280Z look as though they were going backwards in SCCA? The driver was Freddie Baker and the car was prepared by Gran Turismo Jaguar. The years were the late 70s early 80s.

Rob Beere and Malcolm Hamilton did similar to fields of Ferrari F40 with their V12 E type a decade or so later.

 

You might be talking for America, & I even doubt that, but not ROW. Wrong. Try & sell an Aston, Ferrari, Lambo, Benz 300SL, Bugatti etc. or even more humble cars like Lord Laidlaw's Benz Cabriolet (that my friend below bought to add to his 46 car collection) without matching numbers & provenance by any major European Auction House in Monaco, Beaulieu or wherever & you will lose your shirt.

I'm not anti mods. As I've told you before I did major surgery on some of my Alfa's

Just in the process of helping a good friend finish his ground up Studebaker GT Hawk restomod.

Engine GM LS 364/440 GM Performance Engines | LS 364/440 | Chevy Crate Engine | GM Crate Motor | GM Crate Engine

Transmission GM 6L80

Throttle body fuel injection with integrated TCM/ECU supplied and programmed by Mast Motor Sport ~ a challenge as GM never paired the two.

Rack and pinion power steering from an Opel Kadett/Cub etc.

Custom suspension build back & front.

Custom tubular exhaust manifolds

Custom aluminum radiator and dual electric fans controlled by ECU

Hydraulic brake booster (Hydroboost) running brakes & steering.

Custom one-off wheels from Boyd Coddington

Front rotors from BMW 530 ~ Wilwood Calipers.

Rear brakes from Vendors - For Studebakers

Custom Sound with gutted period radio as the head unit with all controls remotely operated.

etc. etc. etc.

I find nothing "cool" about a custom Dung beetle rear on a Mk2. But I'm not a juvenile obviously. I highly appreciate the standard of workmanship. Top drawer.

This is a Jaguar forum & all members can express their opinions ~ both positive & negative as they can at MBWorld where I moderate.

You are approaching being rude & obtuse with members here & that is not cool.

 

The fact is that the Datsun Z won the SCCA National Championship 8 years straight, and won over 70% of all of the races.

While the Jaguar 6 is ok, it is does NOT produce the power/reliability that the Datsun 6 does and when you look at the twin cam Japanese 6 engines (RB & JZ) that will produce double of what the Jag does in stock form and reliably and able to drive on the street. The twin cam 6 that Retropower used on their MKI is a natural choice as it is one of the more popular engines to swap because they produce much more power than the Jaguar 6.

 

Glyn,

* Yes in the USA the classic stock cars are going down in value. While they are going down yes, the numbers matching improves their value. What is happening is that the amount of people whom want a bone stock classic are going down in population/quantity as they age out. Why? because an old car drives like an old car and people still will like that classic look but are preferring the resto mod version of those and those are selling for more and more very year; the last 5 years or so they are exceeding a perfect concourse numbers matching version.

* While say you are not anti mods, that seems very hard to believe. Why? because you have demonstrated the opposite behavior of always posting negative pokes, and you put down anything on the forums that is not stock.

Now I have not said anything derogatory as you did, "Dung beetle rear on a Mk2" nor have I said more arrogant name calling like you have, "juvenile" I have not been rude, you are the one whom clearly continually pokes negative views on anything that does not match your views.

You have only demonstrated constant negative comments on anything modified. If you do not like modified cars, that is fine, but why do you then go out of the way to post your negative rants? Everyone has different views on what they want but you seem to want to own these forums and spew your views on every post even when it is not relevant nor wanted.

 

Wrong & nonsense. The US is not the ROW. Regarding juvenile. It's somewhat obvious that I'm not Justin Bieber's age & our tastes will be different.

My derogatory comment regarding the subject Mk2 applies to an object not a person ~ so no insult. Jeff, Rob etc. agree.

I said I would love to own the Speedback GT ~ hardly a negative poke. It's all Jaguar under the surface.

Your "You obviously have no clue" comment to Cass is rude.

I have given you comments on willingness to modify previously & again above.

You have an attitude that it's your way or the highway. Life's not like that.

I never rant!

Car values run in cycles. They always have & always will.