1955 Jaguar XK140, Barn Find - $33,000 (San Luis Obispo County)

[kar3516]

Not mine…completely disassembled in organized fashion but apparently all there…there are a few additional pictures in the ad.

 

https://slo.craigslist.org/cto/d/san-luis-obispo-jaguar-xk140-barn-find/7733098813.html

 

owner contact email:  7d10891578f03df780b7628068128a19@sale.craigslist.org

 

per owner in Craigslist ad:  “March 1955 build XK 140, Chassis # S811xxx
-Body type is OTS, aka Open Two Seater/roadster.
-SE package, MC in the States, wire wheels, twin exhaust, C type cylinder head.
-Making this a XK140 OTS SE, or XK140 MC Roadster.

Barn Find?... sure, why not, my barn...your find...never lost, I've been seeing it almost everyday of my life for the last 52 years...

Car is complete with matching numbers, original engine block, C Type cylinder head and transmission. Factory color is Pearl Grey, with a thin cheap red layer sprayed on decades ago.

Most important points;
-No cancer and no collision damage. 
-Minor surface rust, oxidation, driver's door has minor body filler. 
-Body is very straight and with a perfect chassis. 
-An at home DIY restorer can restore this car. 
-If you have restored a MG A , Triumph TR or a big Austin Healey, you can restore this.
-It is that straight. Really, it is that nice. 

Family owned since August 1972. Running until engine/trans removed in October 1978.

From ‘72 through ‘82, was stored outside under a wood lean-to in semi arid Pasadena area. Garage stored since ‘82, making ‘82 through current stored inside (ongoing 40+ years).

Last registration was 50+ years ago, it is out of the DMV system, I’m looking for pink.

$33k. 
Email is best to start. If things get serious, then we can exchange cell numbers.
Cheers!”

 

 

 

Edited April 23 by kar3516 (see edit history)

[Xander Wildeisen]

Hope it is all there, Jaguar parts can get expensive.

[alsancle]

These are awesome cars to drive.   This is a great example as a MC OTS with matching numbers but how much money do you need to mix in to get it to this point:

 

https://www.tomlaferriere.com/listings/1955-jaguar-xk140-mc-ots/

 

 

[Gearheadengineer]

These seem to be coming out of the woodwork near me lately. This one looks way better than most of the rusty hulks advertised. But still a ton of work. I’d go back the the white that appears to be the original color.

[Ed Luddy]

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

These are awesome cars to drive.   This is a great example as a MC OTS with matching numbers but how much money do you need to mix in to get it to this point:

 

https://www.tomlaferriere.com/listings/1955-jaguar-xk140-mc-ots/

 

 

This car here is by far the cheaper option. Also you can drive it instead of staring at it for the next 25 years crying about how much you've already spent and it's still not done!

Edited April 23 by Ed Luddy
spelling (see edit history)

[alsancle]

31 minutes ago, Ed Luddy said:

This car here is by far the cheaper option. Also you can drive it instead of staring at it for the next 25 years crying about how much you've already spent and it's still not done!

 

This is what I've figured out.   There is no middle class anymore in the collector car hobby.  There are guys that will buy the dirt cheap project version of a car and there are guys that will be the best example of a car but there is nobody to buy a really nice car with flaws.   The blue car has the matching head in the trunk and is a color change.   It is half the price of a perfect car and twice the price of a basket case.   No man's land.

[Ed Luddy]

4 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

This is what I've figured out.   There is no middle class anymore in the collector car hobby.  There are guys that will buy the dirt cheap project version of a car and there are guys that will be the best example of a car but there is nobody to buy a really nice car with flaws.   The blue car has the matching head in the trunk and is a color change.   It is half the price of a perfect car and twice the price of a basket case.   No man's land.

No longer having my own shop, losing my ability to crawl under a car and work, and not enough money to farm out a restoration keeps me searching for a middle of the road driver class car. Yep, they are really hard to find. Basket case or over priced resto is the majority of for sale cars.

[7th Son]

12 hours ago, kar3516 said:

Last registration was 50+ years ago, it is out of the DMV system, I’m looking for pink, (title).

$33k. 

Sorry, seller, when you get the title papers all sorted out, and adjust the asking price down to under what a rough but assembled car might sell for, there might be some buyer interest.

 

Source	5: Low	4: Mid-low	3: Avg	2: Mid-high	1: High
OCRPG	$24,600	$41,000	$92,250	$143,500	$205,000

 

 

 

 

[alsancle]

8 hours ago, 7th Son said:

Sorry, seller, when you get the title papers all sorted out, and adjust the asking price down to under what a rough but assembled car might sell for, there might be some buyer interest.

 

Source	5: Low	4: Mid-low	3: Avg	2: Mid-high	1: High
OCRPG	$24,600	$41,000	$92,250	$143,500	$205,000

 

 

 

 

 

Your point about the paperwork is 100% correct.  It is very hard to sell a car without a title as 75% of the buyers don't want to deal with it.     However, price guides are toilet paper so don't trust their numbers.

[1912Staver]

I would take a good but disassembled car over a rough but assembled car any day. Particularly when talking about 1950's British sports cars. Any thing as rust free as this Jag is in my mind worth a serious premium over a rusty car. { and people restore lots of rusty Jag's } Spent way too much of my younger years re creating rusty Mustangs and British cars. They always turned out good in the end, but very labor intensive and painstaking to get all the fit and alignment of the body structure correct.

 

Also, this one is far from fully dis- assembled. If you were going to do a frame up the dis-assembly is barely started. I would just Very fine steel wool the remaining red off , polish up what is left of the factory paint. Stick it back together after a mechanical freshening and drive it. Someone with very deep pockets could to a frame up on it 20 years from now once I was finished using it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[alsancle]

This sold last week on BAT for 40K and is an interesting comp.   What is a Jag engine rebuild these days?  20K?  It has that going for it.   There are 61K in receipts and the car is 40% done.   That would be my math.

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1956-jaguar-xk140-roadster-18/

 

 

[1912Staver]

I think your math is pretty close AJ. Great cars , but way out of my league. Years ago I worked on Jags a fair bit. I liked them and for a time thought I might take the plunge if the right one came along. When I was a school boy in the late 1960's / early 1970's there were several in my general area in various stages of decay , some still being driven, but even more lurking in garages and car ports. At that point they were going very cheap. But 10 years later I was a young British car mechanic.   Then I started seeing the sort of repair  / restoration bills our customers were paying. I decided I was better off staying with MG's and similar.

Edited April 25 by 1912Staver (see edit history)