1956 Jaguar XK140
This 1956 Jaguar XK140 SE was a project that we restored for a customer. It arrived to us recently imported back over from America, where it spent its life in a dry state. It was a matching numbers car and had the rare factory fitted ‘C’ cylinder head, giving the car 210BHP. Given the originality of the car, it was methodically stripped so that the original nuts and bolts could be reused where applicable, helping keep the heritage of this rare unmolested XK140.
Once the body was removed from the chassis, we stripped all the steering and suspension components from the chassis. The bare chassis was sand blasted, etch primed, primed and painted in 2 pack satin black. Due to their excellent original condition, the suspension arms / components were treated the same way. These were painted and new polybushes fitted. The suspension was built back up, reusing all original nuts and bolts where possible. The front brakes were upgraded to disc brakes, with upgraded AVO shock absorbers also fitted.
To properly assess the condition of the bodyshell, it was gently blasted to reveal any potential corrosion. Once blasted it was sprayed and left in etch primer. We then carried out substantial fabrication works, including to weld in place body panels and plates where needed, e.g boot floor, outer sills, B posts etc. This involved a lot of re-fitting and removing the body from the chassis, to make sure all panel gaps and alignments are correct. A substantial amount of time was put in to assuring panel gaps and alignment are correct. The shell was then transported to the paint shop and fully resprayed in Pearl Grey.
The original engine was fully rebuilt, with a new 5 speed Tremec gearbox installed. These were fitted to the chassis with a new full Bell stainless exhaust system.
When back from the bodyshop, the painted shell was fitted on to the rebuilt chassis. Various new/reconditioned parts, including all of the original chrome that has been re-chromed, plus various engine bay components were fitted to the shell (including upgraded electric cooling fan). The interior had wool carpets installed throughout and contrasting brown leather trim kit and seats. The dashboard had all original gauges overhauled, with upgrades of hidden 12V charging point and battery shut off switch.
After a substantial amount of labour works, including various wiring and testing, we got the car starting, running and driving on the ramp. Once the build was complete, we carried out substantial local test driving before the car was delivered to the customer in Oxford.
If you are interested in having a similar vehicle restored to either factory or your own standards, please contact us.