2009-05-01 17:59:58 | pauls writes:

Ebay item 5/1/09
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll
Current bid $9,900, no reserve, 9 bids 7 days left in auction.

Sellers description:
IN A GARAGE SINCE 1979. THE CAR RAN AND DROVE FINE WHEN IT WAS PARKED. WE BELIEVE IT TO BE A 2 OWNER CAR. THERE ARE A FEW EXTRA PARTS, AND IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE CAR IS 95% THERE. FOR PARTS OR RESTORE, THIS IS A GREAT PROJECT CAR TO START WITH. THE TITLE IS CLEAN & CLEAR OF LIENS. YOU WILL NEED TO TOW THE VEHICLE AS IT IS NOT RUNNING. THIS ONE NEEDS A GOOD HOME AND SOME ONE TO BRING BACK TO LIFE :)

Hood - paint peeling, minor dents,lite surface rust, Engine Compartment- clean, lite surface rust,no holes, 4.2 6 cyl. engine, 3 carbs, Wire Wheels,- good overall, minor pitting, hold air, need to be cleaned, Passenger Side Door- missing handle, lite surface rust, Passenger Side Quarter - damage down low minor holes,lite surface rust, Rear Hatch Area - Opens and closes, clean, no rust Rear Bumpers / Corners - All parts present-some pitting, Drivers Side Quarter - Lite surface rust, few minor holes, crease (about 12"s) some bubbling, Drivers Door - Crease 12-15"s, slight surface rust,bubbling, Dual Exhaust - newer pipes / plus extra set, Interior-Drivers Door- Good, needs cleaning, missing door pull Drivers Seat-Good, no rips or tears, Missing Carpet - both sides and hatch area Wood Steering Wheel - NEW factory radio Headliner - Good , no rips - needs cleaning, Gas tank, removed and in car - hatch area, Passenger Seat - Good, no rips or tears Passenger Door Panel-Good, missing door pull, Mirrors- 2, Good Condition, no issues, clean, Chrome- All Chrome is present, some is very nice, and some pitted, could be cleaned, some needs to be replaced Misc parts in the hatch area Car is 95% complete from what i can tell. The car ran when parked in 1979. It has been garaged ever since.

2009-06-16 12:10:50 | Lester writes:

Spoke to original owner Jun 15, 2009. He used the car as a chick magnet (His words) and getting from Janesville to a town past Chicago to see his girlfriend. He also hated the stock radio, he owned a rock and roll bar, and had a turntable installed! (Not with the car at present.) He is still considering buying another one as he said that this car was the most memorable of all he's owned!

Purchased off eBay for $ 12,500

2010-01-12 11:10:33 | Lester (the owner) writes:

As of today the car has had the following repairs or updates: Smooth style cam covers to replace later ribbed ones, carbs all overhauled down to the last screw, intake manifold polished, new intake gasket, throttle linkage polished, hard vacuum line polished and mounted, vacuum reserve tank painted, Wilwood front calipers and pads, new rotors, new flex brake lines in front, new heater pipes behind dash, new heater hoses throughout, heater control valve cleaned, plated, and re-installed, new splash panels both sides of engine, new aluminum radiator, new fan motor and multiblade plastic fan, new header tank, new otter switch, new front valence panel ( just in front of radiator), wheel well panels on both sides cleaned and painted, new tires and wheels balanced at Coventry West, new hydraulics throughout (Brake and clutch Master cylinders), new brake hardline from MC to rear (Used CuNi line), new rear flexline, new restored IRS, new IRS mounts, new anti-sway bar mounts, new sway bar link bushings, new U-Joints, new plastic fuel lines, new gas tank, rebuilt fuel pump, new trunk floor panel, new radius arm mount passenger's side. Any bolt that was serviceable has been removed, de-rusted, zinc plated, and reused. Has current brake tag and license.

2010-04-01 22:39:26 | Lester (the owner) writes:

.. further repairs.. new sealed lower ball joints, repacked upper ball joints and new boots, rebuilt steering rack (bushing and all bearings and boots) new tie rod ends, new floor welded into boot, spliced used (but good condition) plug into wiring harness for bonnet. Bead blasted hinges for bonnet, plated bonnet mountings on bonnet and chassis. New battery support , new neg battery cable. Cleaned paint and rust off reverse light plinth, polished and painted reflector, repaired socket, fixed wiring so that reverse light works, cleaned license plate lights (lenses, chrome). Repaired horn mechanism (new spring), repaired original horns but they were in un-restoreable condition, purchased new horns and fabricated wire extensions (original wiring and fittings left intact). Now has Antique License Plate. Backed over seats with a Suburban (they were removed for evaluation) and bent passengers side. It is now hammered back into shape. Replaced spark plugs, bled brakes. While preparing to replace driver's side floor panel discovered that the throttle pedal hinge was rusted solid and had not been pivoting during previous driving.

2010-04-01 23:06:34 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Also rebuilt the brake pedal pivot mechanism, plated the bracket for the fuel filter.

2010-10-05 21:52:23 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Latest work: Replaced glovebox with new box and used fascia plate, Koolmat installed inside all passenger compartment floors and everywhere else it could go, new carpet from OSJI installed, re-dyed leather on armrest console, new speakers, still has original Motorola radio. Placed new bottom pad in passenger's seat and replaced leather. Original Hardura under seats and under dash. Replaced steering shaft U-joints, cleaned and clear coated throttle pivot housing and zinc plated arms. Cleaned and lubricated as well. Painted steering shaft, recentered steering wheel and turn signal canceling ring. Installed new Cibie headlights and plated posidriv screws in headlight rings. Installed Jag of England Club oil pressure gauge giving over 60 psi cold and after warming up in 90 degree temps still over 40 psi at idle. Changed oil and trans fluid. Awaiting new stainless steel exhaust, wiper arms, seatbelts.

2010-11-03 12:13:00 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Installed complete new stainless steel exhaust. This revealed that the heat shields had come loose which are now re-installed. Clutch Master cylinder is off to be sleeved. Installed a relay and new Otter switch for fan. Installed 3 new wiper arms and wiper blades. Having to investigate seat belt mounting and style as the kit from the supplier will not fit properly.

2011-03-17 10:15:00 | Lester (the owner) writes:

December 2010 I drove the car to my shop as the clutch need to be replaced. After lowering the engine and trans it seemed like the smart thing to do was to "freshen up" the front of the car so it is now stripped down to the firewall. I have sandblasted, primed and painted all of the suspension bits as well as installing all new factory bushings; this includes the anti-sway bar bushings, the ant-sway bar link bushings, the upper and lower front and rear suspension bushings. I have repaired the left front sill closing panel and am stripping the paint off of the firewall. I will paint the firewall and sub-frames and picture frame a color as close to the original Opalescent Dark Green as I can find. I will be installing new E-Type Fabs sub-frames. I have cleaned and painted the engine and transmission.

2011-05-19 17:14:02 | Lester (the owner) writes:

May 2011

The car is coming out of my shop, the following as well as what is from 3/17/2011 has been done:

Everything removed from firewall and it was stripped to bare steel or rust.. replaced the panel behind the brake servo cylinder and patched the panel the forms the rear of the left hand wheel arch.

Firewall and frames painted, clear coat over ODG over epoxy primer, all PPG products
New wiring harnesses, engine bay (main) and alternator harnesses
New straps (black plastic with holes) used where original ones did not stand up to removal or reinstallation
New stainless metal straps to hold hard brake line at picture frame and vacuum transfer pipe to round tube
New CuNi hard brake lines from servo to splitter and from splitter to flex line mounts
New CuNi hard clutch line from master to union and from union to flex line mount
New CuNi hard clutch line from slave to flex line mount
New washer clear line
New grommets in firewall
New rubber plugs in firewall
Brake system and clutch system now using silicone brake fluid
I found that the heater transfer pipe (behind the dash) where it mates to the heater control valve is leaking so a new "o" ring will be installed
Exhaust manifolds with ceramic coating installed with brass nuts
Exhaust system installed
Lowe's aluminum flashing stuff (heat reflective) installed in propeller shaft tunnel and on top of factory heat shields under transmission
New rubber for transmission mount, bobbin and spring perches
Transmission mount painted, spring mount painted, spring perches painted, spring painted
Reaction plate painted and installed with new mounting hardware
The bonnet will need adjusting as well.
New nylon bonnet pivot bushings
New exhaust and intake manifold gaskets


Also, I, with the help of the person I purchased the car from, have tracked down the three previous owner and am waiting for the name of the couple that owned it when it was wrecked.

2011-08-25 10:24:19 | Lester (the owner) writes:

After the 5 month clutch replacement/ front end rebuild I started and ran the car, very rough running. Seems that the modern fuel went bad and caused problems with the rubber around the carb jets. This allowed fuel to flow out of the carbs and onto the paint which dissolved it right down to bare metal. So..

Carbs rebuilt with new rubber bits from Jo Curto
Frame rails under carbs stripped, sanded, primed, painted, clearcoated
Carbs tuned
Passenger's seat dyed
Camber checked and is -.1 degree on both sides
Cut about 2 inches off rear exhaust pipes to get to proper length
IMPORTANT-- Timing indicator has been placed on L side of engine for viewing from side not under car. Currently set to 9 degrees BTDC
Compression across all cylinder is between 168 and 175.

I found another unaltered painted area behind the door trim on the Left side and used that to try to match paint using PPG's computer system. It's very close to the original ODG and I am trying different panels to see how it looks before proceeding with bodywork on the car.

This is a fun car to drive!

2011-11-16 11:20:11 | Lester (the owner) writes:

I have been driving the car for many months and am starting to fix some interior issues, the dash is now recovered, the armrest has a replacement cover, I have to glue the underdash hardura panels back up as I used friction to hold them in place before. The car came in 3rd in class at the 2011 Texas All British Car Days, we ran the rally, close to 100 miles, in 95 degree heat without any cooling problems. I have replaced the Otter switch with one from Coolcat. I have new seat leather from OSJI that will be going in over the Winter as well. I have replaced the spark plug wire conduit, painted the cylinder head, new spark plug wires as well.

2012-01-24 16:16:13 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Replaced the distributor with a Mallory Unilite unit. Discovered that the distributor on the car had an early pollution setup and instead of advancing the timing would actually retard it! The bad news is that this required new non-solid wires so out went the factory type wires and in went coil wound wires. Runs VERY well! Added a ballast resistor again for the Mallory distributor.

Fabricated new under dash metal panels, the original ones were tatty looking and I decided to go with vinyl instead of oilcloth so the new ones are slightly smaller in most dimensions. I am currently redoing the driver's seat, it is disassembled and waiting for the foam pad to stretch out and me to get the bend out of the tracks.

2012-02-26 15:20:33 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Both seats have been recovered and re-foamed using OSJI kits. All of the sliders (tracks) have been disassembled by grinding off the stops, refurbished, reassembled, and new stops welded. Added correct rear carb spring attachment and tuned carbs which included removal of pistons, verification of UM needles and setting flow and adjusting as per the manual, verified timing at 10 degrees BTDC.

2014-04-06 11:16:05 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Serious body work had begun...

2014-04-07 09:48:06 | Lester (the owner) writes:

The inner and outer fender on the right rear have been partially removed as well as the rear panel behind the wheel and the exterior panel behind the wheel. Rusted metal has been removed and new panels from Monocoque Metalworks have been installed. A crease in the passenger's door has been hammered out and finished in lead. Lead was also used on the exterior panels for the right rear.

2016-02-26 10:51:24 | Lester (the owner) writes:

2/2016 Slow going on the body restoration. I'm trying to fix the rust through and previous rough work done to the car. Not much progress in the last two years but it will be done right to the best of my ability!

2017-08-21 16:39:06 | Lester (the owner) writes:

Well I have been getting back to body repair. I am waiting on panels for the left side and finishing up the work on the right side. Significant rust was found under the factory lead work just rearward of the door.

I have also started disassembling the bonnet for repair and painting. Many dumb things done there. Will have new wiring and new multi plugs as well as a new connector bracket. Mish mash of parts from British Wiring, XKs Unlimited, and SNG Barratt.

2017-12-31 01:16:49 | Lester the owner) writes:

The bonnet has been totally disassembled, thermally stripped of paint (no body filler at all!) and dipped to remove rust. Only surface stuff. Current plan is to have it painted in Epoxy primer, body color (ODG) underneath then assembled then outside coat of ODG applied to entire body. New bonnet bits are all in !

2018-07-05 17:14:53 | Lester (the owner) writes:

So the bonnet is mostly done, I have Epoxy primed and painted (PPG DP50LF and PPG DCC Acrylic Urethane) reassembled and test fit to body. I have welded two of the hinge mounting plates where they were stripped. Still have to paint the fasteners. Fabricated the captive just where missing for the headlight trim. Derusted, primed and painted the headlight buckets and hardware. Painted sugar scoops but will need to repaint.