Chatting to my old man a while ago about finding/restoring a V12 XJ Coupe, we came up with the idea of altering a 308 bodyshell to 2 door. All the coupes are now too rusty to work with, I can get 308 shells new.

Now this has been done before, in a more extreme way with the Daimler Corsica project, although that car had the roof removed. I'm not planning on going that far, but for now it's a new shell, XKR front seats, supercharged drivetrain, and custom side glass.

My steel man has confirmed 'no problem' the B post shifted back around 9 inches, loosing the metal above the door top, strengthening where required. This will give it a pure pillarless coupe look. The rear glass will slide in and out, stored in a leather slip against the petrol tank in the boot for sunny blasts.

As it is, it's 100% Go.

Any comments, points to consider?

Rough mockup in House of Kolor Wild Cherry.

I think if it hit the Top Gear cool board, it'd be 'sub zero'!

 

You mean like this ?

 

a coupe would be extremely cool, you only live once, go for it

 

Not exactly I won't be using the B post or quarterlights, is that real, if so details John!

 

If its real, the driver is 8 feet tall!

 

Perfectly plausible. It's probably a chop behind the B pillar.

@Sean,

using the B post might not be so bad with blackout trim.

 

Sounds cool, although not all old Jags are rusty. The old XJC is my wifes favourite car and there are still quite a few rust free examples around in dryer states of America. One day I'll get my wife one WITH a V!2 just to show how pathetic the American ones with small block chevys are
Just need to change the relays, radiator and electrics, and the V12 engine is a peach!

 

Sean, first off its photoshopped. I will say though, after conversations with the Corisa build people, who didnt want to give me exacts but didnt tell me my measurements were wrong, this is what can be accomplished and was intended with a spare 95 XJ6 parts car I have.

I would have to go check where the cuts were to be but it was staggered and you would loose the sunroof. I believe there is 15 inches taken out of the roof chassis, but 7 added to the rear quarters and back into the doors. Again I would have to check. Having owned a bodyshop for years I can tell you this mods hardest parts are.

1. weight of the door when opened, maybe a 3rd hinge would be needed.
2. door glass would have to be made custom
3. window frame for doors would have to be made
4. front seats would need to be moveable for rear seat entry

I was/am (still on the drawing board) leaving the B pillar because of owning a couple XJ6C's (1976's) and if you see that bodystyle I can tell you first hand that with all 4 windows open the wind noise is horrible (and one of the reasons Jaguar canned the project). I was also making the rear 1/4 windows stationary.

Other simpler things were the driveshaft needing shortening along with the exhaust. Floor pans, door jams, roof support is all standard fair with some cutting and welding skill needed.

My only issue with this build (personally) is I might want to upgrade to a 98 or newer XKR instead of a 95 XJ6. Whats good though is I can do the trial and error on the 95 to see what issues might come up.

Any questions ask, if I can help answer I will.

 

Good to see I'm not alone.

I see you've given it some thought, I'll attempt to answer your areas' of difficulty.
1. Weight of doors, my Oldman suggested 3 hinges. I doubt the hinges are the issue here, it's where they're bolted to. This panel is going to be stiffened before doors are fitted. Lightweight custom door panels and speakers will help.
2. Custom glass shop in Birmingham (UK) I've dealt with for years will make any glass I send an aluminum pattern of. This has to be exact, and it's the most expensive item on the list. Your comment about wind noise, the acrylic wind deflectors fitted to the front when putting in fast mileage, and leaving my sliding rear glass in might keep it more comfy, but it's a car for the South of France in the summer, not an autobahn stormer, so for leisurely touring, I've got the option of full pillarless.
3. I've made frames for E-Types converting 2+2 for coupe etc, this isn't that difficult, it's where the frame meets the rear glass and a good seal, this is also something I've really considered. It's a bit of fine metalwork.
4. Front seats, XKR Recaro's are already bought and sitting at the trim shop. I put XJ8 modules in and they'll work. The rear seats I'm currently looking for the special option adjustable rears out of Super V8 Daimler. I'm waiting for a call from Eurojag on them.

My biggest problem is 6.1lt V12 engine and 6 speed manual, or XJR V8 and auto......;-)

 

or perhaps the Jaguar V8 with manual trans. conversion- could be nice but I'm not sure how the progress with development of that is coming along, saw a thread on it a while back but nothing more since then

 

It doesn't look as good as XK on the side profile . I would not tackle this job but that's your opinion

 

A manual V8 is a possibility -

Regent, who mentioned XK's? go take a blast on that nitrous oxide, lol!

 

Sean I agree..... its a whole......... different thing that pushes me to do it. I like different, x300 2 door coupe or convertible is different. I never thought about putting XK seats in it since that solves the folding forward front seat situation.

I also forgot to mention the customer door panels which I dont think is that hard to fabricate as I have done it before on a race car I had. I would love to see what you come up with if and when your ready to start. I need to decide if I want to do this in my 3 car garage or wait till I build a shop instead.

 

Extend the front doors - they're too short as standard IMO and it'll make getting in and out much easier. A-pillar is pretty strong as far as door hinges go, no need for three. B-pillar is the weak one. Super cool would be suicide doors of course. ;-)

Sills and roofline are near as dammit straight. (the door seam that forms the centre of the sill is straight, but the sills bow outward slightly at the centre)

There's quite a bit of structural strength in the rear quarterlight on X308 shells. You'll want to 'skin' the C-pillar, then triangulate 'down' to the base of what would be the B-pillar. Sink a good 'web' inside the sill (between the two halves) to tie in your triangulation.

Seatbelt mount? It'll be too low if you put it on 'top' of the windowline with standard Jaguar seats, and ugly if its almost on the rear parcel shelf/passes the window IMO. The belt mounts are about the only structural bit that VOSA care about on IVA FWIW.

For the door glass frame, consider old cars where the 'frame' folds flat on top of the door, then lifts up and into place as the window rises. (hingeline runs across the car, at the top front edge of the quarterlight) This holds your window in whilst the window is up and provides something for the door to shut against, yet when you remove the quarterlight it flips down and covers the gap :-)

Need photos of chopped XJ shells? Quite happy to discuss structural implications (and how I'd do differently again) over a beer.

 

Corsica has low seats/high turrets:

http://www.cosic.org.uk/MarkoStuff/x...s/imag1033.jpg

OEM seats are marginal:

XJ8FrontBelt

Mk3 MX5 seats cured that. Losing the height adjust/electrical adjustment shizzle on the OE seats probably would too, but I've stuck with the MX5 ones as they save over 50 kg and I'm close to max axle weights.

XJ8 Jan 2012 week 1

 

This is sick!! good luck man! can't wait to see the results. BTW the black "coupe" is horrendous. I like the purple one, Pretty slick!

 

Have you considered doing the factory "D" pillar window trim/size, and adding a 3rd window in the profile?

It would preserve my favourite shape on the 308, the opera window.

Like the E-Class coupe, I know it isnt great looking but same idea.

Maintains the pillarless rear windows, to some extent.

 

@Sean

I think it's a great idea. I'd go as you proposed with the pillar less setup. Do you think you could make the rear quarter windows go up and down electrically ? or is there no room because of the rear wheel arch ?

The rear windows in the original XJC are electric but they motor at a tilt to clear the rear wheel arch.

I saw a great rebuild on an original XJC here... FiBoy's XJ12C restoration; rebuilding a Jaguar XJ V12 Coupe

As has been said before, there are clean shells around in the US in dry states...... obviously you're going to find it much harder to find one back in Blighty

I've seen another 1 or 2 Ser II cars which have been modernised, ie



But they always look a bit strange to me. For sure the modern wheels fit the look very well, but I'm not sure about the lack of chrome

 

@Sarc - that Sir, is the car that gave me the idea for doing something like this.

The rear glass is a nightmare to motorize - The coupe's weren't a great job if I recall. If I could find a good solid bodyshell here in the UK I'd be on with the resto project. I might start a search for a resto project stateside, and buy a rusty RHD one for steering / dash parts......

 

I turned my 1995 XJ6 Vanden Plas into a convertible....using Photoshop unfortunately! It looks beautiful though!

I added in rear suicide doors and it has a retractable hardtop that hides away into the trunk .

!