1971 V12 E type barn find

[redranch]

Am just about to buy a 71 V12, a manual LHD car with factory A/C,white with a black interior. The car was sent over to British Leyland Switzerland and then sold to a customer in Tunisia where it sat for may years. It ended up in with a dealer in Belgium before arriving in the UK and sitting in storage for 10 years.

Almost have it (waiting for the money to clear his account and it'll be mine :)

I wonder where in Switzerland the dealers were located for an E-type like this? Are they still going as it would be great to track down it's early history, as not much of the cars paperwork comes with the car. Just a Tunisian log book that confirms the VIN and engine details. I wonder if Tunisia has the equivalent of the DVLA (DMV in the US) to track down the previous owner

Once I have more info I'll post it.

Peter

[andyp]

Welcome to the forum Peter

Your first step should be to get yourself a hertitage certificate for your E:

http://www.jdht.com/certs/trace_certs.html

In addition to details of the car itself it will also tell you where the car was first heading, be that a dealer or first owner.

You can continue your hunt for information from there.

It might just be worth checking xkedata.com once you have your vin in case some good soul has entered her details. It's unlikely here as she has been hidden away but it is always interesting to see your car's nearest relations and you can add her details while you are there. You'll see what xkedata is all about when you visit.

Have fun and if in doubt ask. Somebody in the E Type world will have been there already.

Andy

[redranch]

[img]Thanks Andy, I do have a copy of the Heritage certificate (thanks to the guy who brought it to the UK from Belgium). As far as I can tell it's only had the one owner in Tunisia, the dealer in Belgium and the guy who found it in 1999 and brought it over to the have never registered it.

As I mentioned in the first post all I really know about the car is that it's a manual LHD car with factory A/C (is factory A/C rare?, and what other options were available I wonder).
The car was sent to British Leyland, Switzerland (where in Switzerland I don't know) and then sold to a customer in Tunisia. I was told he was a diplomat who had it delivered there from new, which would add up as I have the Tunisian blue/grey log book with it's date of arrival 1971 and the last registered date (which was 1986).

There was some work carried out when it first arrived as it has had new floor pans, sills and door skins, but for the most part it's all original.

Would love to know more history on the car.

Peter

[redranch]

Ok, I've worked out how do add an image...here goes.

This photo is as the car was found in storage, so work to get it back on the road again will start very soon. In fact it does actually run and drive, admittedly only to the end of the road (private road of course), the brakes are non existent as you'd expect from a car that's been off the road for almost 20 years.

[MarkE]

That should be a fascinating history to unravel if you can, Peter. Does the car need much bodywork completing?

Something to identify pretty quickly is how much antifreeze remains in the coolant system. My ex-Californian S3 had none, resulting in a fair bit of corrosion between the head studs and the heads, and the head gaskets looked like old lace! Replacement heads can be obtained quite reasonably though?I think that my replacements were ?200 for a mint pair. Lots of potential donors, with the old XJ12 and early XJS.

The engine will certainly need stripping as, at the very least, the rear crankshaft oil seal will be very dried out. This results in oil dripping onto the exhaust, and when you stop, smoke ominously pours out of the bonnet louvers. Very worrying when seen for the first time!

If you need any parts for the A/C, I have quite a lot of spares taken from my car. Unfortunately, the system was only designed for LHD, and doesn?t fit the dash for my (now) RHD car. I don't think that A/C was too rare on cars heading for the US, or at least, West Coast US.

The only other options I can remember were the wire wheels (instead of the painted silver wheels with hubcaps) or the chrome wheels, also with hubcaps. I guess that there were a couple of options for the radio, and my car came with a pretty original looking 8 track stereo. I just need some 8 track cartridges now! Then of course there was the sun-roof for the 2+2, and the hard top for the drophead.

Good luck with the restoration, and do post up some more pictures when you get the car.

Mark

[redranch]

Hi Mark, thanks for the note...this was actually a European spec car rather than a US one, that's why I wondered about the A/C.

The engine was turned over about a year ago and was also drive a short distance, but yes I shall be investigation the engine during it's restoration.

All new door skins, boot floor and sills were replace about 9 years ago (you can still see the stickers on the panels), but have a little surface rust these days...nothing to worry about though. Apart from needing a new front valance, the body can be stripped pretty quickly and there isn't any rust in the car so it shouldn't take much to get it on the road (famous last words...).

Thanks for the offer on th A/c parts, I'll bear that in mind when I get around to that part of the rebuild.

I'm hoping to have more photos of the car few soon, once we get to the car and lower it to the ground I should have a better idea of the interior too.

Peter