Last week I wrote about taking our 1971 Jaguar E-type SIII V12 coupe on a club run to Timberline Lodge, about a 120-mile round trip.
Rick Martin, a fellow SIII owner and friend, did the driving. He kept remarking how “good and tight” the car felt compared to other E-types he had driven. We had a discussion about why that might be so.
Recall, this is a car with just 32,000 original miles that has never been restored.
Most cars that get restored are “in need of restoration.” In other words, in poor condition.
In my opinion, once you take a car apart and then put it back together, it is never quite the same.
Our Jag has always been loved and never a derelict. I have some service notes, and it appears that aside from having the ignition system updated and the automatic transmission resealed, little else was done to it.
When it arrived here in Portland at Consolidated Autoworks, shop owner Ed Grayson pointed out that someone had replaced the stock rubber front suspension bushings with polyurethane ones. While that was once considered an upgrade, time has shown that the plastic bushings harden and eventually disintegrate with age (he showed me a handful of plastic bits to prove his point). He said he always uses rubber replacements today.
But other than that, the car was essentially untouched.
In fact, Ed mentioned that part of the reason he enjoys servicing our Jag is that he is not trying to undo the mistakes that other mechanics might have made. He’s dealing with a stock engine and carburetion, so he knows exactly what to do to have them perform their best.
If you assume a sports car in the 1970s might have covered 10,000 miles a year, then driving our Jag is the same as driving a three-year-old car. Which would explain why it feels so tight and crisp on the road.
Low miles is just one characteristic of a car that works well. Others include whether the car has always been properly serviced or went through a period of benign neglect before having a major or minor refurbishment.
Have you experienced the difference between a well-kept original car and a properly restored one?
Read my previous blog posts here.
10 responses to “Keith’s Blog: Fifty-four Going on Three”
I suspect the major factor is that it is a coupe. If you like the wind in your hair you are going to have to put up with a lot more body fle,x, squeaks and rattles as they age.
Regarding ‘Well kept’ vs ‘original’ vs ‘restored’ comments: Some people just like to take stuff apart! We say no! Original is always better for a good driving car. In my shop, we often do ‘show’ cars for some of the biggest concours. These will hardly ever get really driven, so that kind of ‘restored’ isn’t pertinent to this topic. We also repair and maintain great old cars that get driven. As a general rule, we try not to disturb anything original unless we absolutely have to, when we are repairing or maintaining our customer’s cars. In a good car, original parts, have settled into a ‘happy’ place of coexistence with the parts they are connected to. Once you disturb that, the new parts have to find their ‘happy’ place, which sometimes never happens, resulting is rattles, squeaks, and even failures. Short of trying to make a show -winning restoration, we believe one should leave parts that don’t need to be disturbed alone. We even do extra work to go out of our way to not molest original parts have been in their ‘happy’ place for decades. I think once you start messing with things that were fine before, you are just asking for problems.
Great thoughts thanks! I like “happy place” and agree 100%.
My ‘73 911T was restored somewhere in the past, but sadly there are no records on the engine build. We know it is higher performance than stock, but not knowing what exactly was done, calibrating the MFI has been a challenge. Also, the back-to-metal repaint was not done that well, so it chips easily and often. However, I was fortunate enough to find an original ‘82 911SC that had been with its wealthy owner for the past 35 years, and the extensive records show that he was lavish in his attention to its care and service. As a result, it is tight, leak-free, and runs beautifully. To me, a well-cared-for original is
always the best option.
Is it for sale?
Not at this time but thanks for asking
My 2001 Mercedes SLK320 is tight too. A recent bumper to bumper inspection by Mercedes Benz showed it to be in top condition and I think this is due to CarFax showing regular oil changes every 5000 miles, and regular service by Mercedes Benz. This is despite my being the 6th owner. One would think that a previous owner would have neglected the car but this has not been the case. I’ve now owned the car since 2016, paid $10,000 when I bought it and have spent another $8,000 in upgrades and repairs. It now has 106,000 miles on the clock.
It’s possible with an awful lot of time, care and attention to get a rebuilt car almost as good as an original one, but almost no one puts in that effort.
I remember driving a 2000GTV Alfa that had done 8000 miles and it was a very different experience to my 100,000+ 1750GTV. Can never get the windows to match the door seals as well as the original car!
Jaguar front suspensions are noted for eating the original Metalastic rubber control arm bushings, mostly due to becoming oil-soaked. Although I’m talking about the much heavier MK IX, the from suspensions are nearly identical. We always had a box with 2 complete sets (8 uppers and 8 lowers). We kept that lovely cat for nearly 30 years from new.
An aside–when the car gets to 20 years, regardless of mileage, a thorough overhaul works wonders, but only if it’s exhaustive, especially the chassis bits.
Presently sporting four Saabs, but thinking seriously of adding a Classic Jaguar to the collection.
Great comments thanks.