Out of interest what approx date did they change from Curly hubs to Flat hubs?

 

Rob, I have found that Jaguar Bulletins are nowhere near the accuracy claimed. Under the control of the parsimonious Lyons they simply did not have enough staff to maintain that level of accuracy between wishful bulletins & the shop floor. Everybody was ludicrously busy. I mean the tiny staff that Bill Heynes had under his control (basically the 3 of them that included himself, Walter Hassan and Claude Baily) battled to keep up with daily affairs, much less documenting them accurately and observing goings on in the plant. I get my Bulletins from Terry's Jaguar because they are generally well preserved & some are none other than wishful thinking or future intention that never happened..

Quote "In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jaguar’s design engineering was carried out by a very small number of people – a ridiculously small number, by modern standards – and as a result they were constantly busy." unquote
Credit
Taylor et al & the official Jaguar/Landrover historians.

.

 

Thanks Prof. Gregory, Your beautiful (Primrose yellow?) Mk2 is also a joy to behold. How are you enjoying the S Type you've added to your collection? On the "new red" US car shown above you can see the metal dies used for stamping the rear door skins are wearing. Lower door gap out on both sides to achieve top alignment.

 

I thought the door gap feature ran from the early cars, a consequence of the Pressed Steel Company's lack of quality control.

I believe the choice of centre nut was a matter of what was available and what the local regulating authority would accept. Many of the latter can be deliberately obstructive of imports regardless of rules and legislation.

Lots of photos of lovely cars. At least mine is a fine example of everything that corrodes or wears out.

 

My SA build does not suffer the gap issue. I thought the decision of curly hub vs easyclean was by customer choice after the hubs became billet machined 66/67. The original Dunlop splined hubs were stamped.

Imagine what it took to achieve this standard of fit. This German restored car is now in Japan which is strange as Japan is a RHD country. I think it was bought on it's high standard of restoration by a collector. Origin obviously US. But that's the Germans for you.

 

Cass here you are--the small staff was able to produce them in the day. These are from the full bulletin files and not those gleaned from the JDHT which are very incomplete. Flat earth society members and Luddites need not respond.

 

 

So my comment "that it is model year influenced." is correct and offset changed with forged/billet hubs & their relative spokes. Something else that Taylor & the official in-house Jaguar Landrover historians got right.

We shall ignore rude comments posted by CF as it is more of a reflection on them than us & our discussions.

Forged hub wires both easyclean & curley hub were dispatched to South Africa in the final shipments of CKD cars with standard long ear spinners. So customers had a choice. So nothing was phased out.

We machined the correctly aged & stress relieved blank blocks & heads here & built up the engines from scratch on the latest state of the art equipment for the time to meet Lyons agreement with government on our local content programme that was by weight at that time for Mark2, S Type, 340, 420, & XJ6. This agreement went way back. Our engines were more accurate than those produced on aging/ancient equipment used at Browns Lane (some from the old Daimler purchase). Better balanced & finished etc.

 

Enough of the Cat calling here guys. Both are right but in there own way.
Although the bulletin states that the curley hubs were phased out and flat hubs introduced after chassis number 1b 8501 on the 3.4 RHD cars the bulletins are dated January 1968 and July 1968 which are way past the date that the 1b8501 was made. My 3.4s RHD car is P1b 8973 and the Heritage certificate states it was manufactured on the 4th December 1967 although I also have other papers relating to a September or October 1967 build date so 1b8501 must have been manufactured around May to July 1967.
Are these bulletins brought out at the time of the change or as an after thought some 6 months (Jan 1968) and over a year after in the case of the July 1968 bulletin to when the changes were made. Asking for a friend in case I get labeled a flat earther.

 

You have a friend as you well know ~ You are not a flat earther or Luddite Rob & neither am I. I can say without fear of contradiction that I have visited more countries in the execution of my global oilco job than anybody at the other party has, & multiple, multiple times. Some probably don't have passports. Try flying 230 days a year for decades & it gets old very quickly. Corporate jet or no Corporate jet. We have 7. Nothing beats observing in-country & talking to owners.

Your point regarding the Bulletins lag is taken. Bed time. 2:40 am here.

 

Differences of opinion are as inevitable as are build variations to suit different market regulations and inconsistencies introduced by previous owners as a result of restoration, improvement or upgrade. However, one thing that remains ABSOLUTELY CONSISTENT is the expected standards of posts by members.

If contributors cannot disagree without being offensive, I'll close the thread and take appropriate action against any individual, regardless of status, seniority or length of membership.

Graham

 

Understood & agreed. This has run it's course.

 

I am sorry this has become such a source of contention. My only thought was to bring the differences out for others who may wonder as I do, to make the forums that much more complete.

 

Jerry you are fine--by the way which one of your conti. hubs do you need---we have a rh and would love to make your set complete!

 

I would really want a whole set. Doesn't even need to be new, just presentable, as the car is far from ... beautiful. But I have the tool for them and may as well use it. There are 3 of the two eared ones on it and only one continental which is not very pretty itself. Please PM me on it

 

here you go Jerry. If you have the removal tool, you're set. Top left one needs rechroming. Expensive!!

 

Jose ~ you are correct that re-chroming in the US is expensive & I've oftened wondered why? The process globally is identical. Yes there are some botch artists out there but I'm talking equivalent quality.

My Dallas friend has just been charged $5000 to re-chrome a Mercedes grill. He has now spent 2 million Euros to buy a 50% share in his Polish restorer's operation as he intends expanding it & they are working on 4 of his cars right now. (standard of workmanship superb) They have a state of the art new chroming plant & would charge a fraction of that price to properly & perfectly re-chrome a Merc grill.

Obviously staff earn more in the US but $5000 for 1 grill??? I just don't get it. It is not as though they do a better job.

 

Glyn maybe the grill had dings and rust and had to be worked hard to bring it to perfection?
​​​​​​ I know of a chromer in the east coast who is not that expensive, he did the two S type vent knobs that I used in my XJ-6 for $40. plus shipping. I told him I wanted them triple chromed. The original XJ-6 knobs are identical to the S type vent knobs but in black plastic.

 

Adam Howell is generally considered as one of the very best chrome players in the UK. I think he charges £400 or so for a Mk2 bumper. But, as Jose has written, the cost can go up if the condition is poor.

 

Jose. The grill did not have a single mark or dent in it. It just had a light patina of age. It's brass so no corrosion. Nothing that a single dip of copper & polish would not fix. Part of the standard process anyway.