The 'E' Type Forum

Hi there, I joined this site a couple of weeks ago to get a better feel for E Type ownership, learn a little more about the different types and specs and to gain information on the re-builds that some owners have been generous to share. All of this sparked by seeing an E type requiring restoration 3 years ago which is possibly now for sale - the car is an original UK car, 1966, S1 4.2 OTS. The seller is the father -in?law of a friend so we are having very amicable conversations and discussions and any information from this note I will gladly share with him to help us to come to a fair deal.

My experience is many and varied, my day job is as a consultant engineer specialising in process control in the oil and gas industry with my car interests ranging from owning TR6's to my current classic which is an UR quattro 1987, which successfully completed a run to the Audi factory at Ingolstatd 2 years ago to celebrate 30 years of the quattro, after much re-building.

The condition of the E Type is as follows:- All original numbers but existing engine block has been damaged by water freezing in the block over winter however, a recon E type engine block is available as part of the deal. The car was purchased by the current owner in 1973 and used for 3 to 4 years before being laid up with a view to repairing /restoring. Like a lot of these things life takes over and this wasn?t done but the car has been slowly worked on over the years to the car we see now. The bodywork has been substantially repaired (welded and lead loded where required) say about 80% completed, new doors new wings and new or repaired body parts where required - a full preparation for painting would then be required. However, most off the components are still attached, including dashboard, wiring, engine/gearbox and all suspension parts ? no work has been carried out here. My intention would be to continue to strip the car down to the tub and frame, followed by professionally repaint and then slowly build the car back up to its former glory, which would include re-wire (new looms), re?chrome, new hood (frame is ok) etc. etc. I have the skills to do this and don't underestimate the time it would take ? or maybe I do!

All of the above of course depends on coming to a fair price for seller and buyer for the car in its present state. After analysing these type of cars for sale my estimate for a car of this type requiring this level of restoration would be ?15,000 to ?25,000. How does this feel with the more experienced people on this site?

Regards, Ian

Welcome Ian. Given the state of the market, I would say you are pretty much bang on with the upper price of ?25k

Welcome to the nut house, Ian . I am not quite sure how much is with the car from your description. When you refer to new doors, wings etc do you mean that these will be needed, or do you mean they are with the car already ? Also, you do not mention the bonnet, which is one of the most problematic areas on an E because each one has to be tailored to fit a particular car, so that buying e.g. a second hand one is even more of a gamble . What exactly are the welding repairs that already have been done ?
With this information it may be possible to give you a guide of the future costs invloved, which is material to the price that feasibly should be offered .
The stripdown , mechanical and electrical work, and re-assembly is all well within the capacity of an experienced amateur who is methodical ; numbered bags, and a spreadsheet to keep track of where the parts are stored etc is an invaluable aid .

Thanks for your replies, its very useful to know I'm in the right ball park regards value. The doors and front wings have been replaced already and are fixed to the car. The doors appear a good fit with even panel lines and no protrusion. The bonnet, as you say, will need some work although its the original bonnet fitted with new wings, so should be possible to fettle. The welding repairs have been carried out on the floor panels with new sills fitted. I need to see a set of photos to see exactly what was repaired behind the sills and elsewhere. All the old panels (wings doors etc) come with the car and the car is complete in the sense that it comes with all of the parts.

Ian : here is a rough guide to future costs, assuming that you do all the work yourself except finishing the bodywork and bonnet , trimming , and machining work e.g. reboring, crank grinding etc, and that all parts such as glass are present and useable

Bonnet frames and fitting 1500
Bonnet - to fit 2000
Paint 7000
Trimming ( assuming
seats etc are with car) 4000
Rechroming 1250
Suspension plating 250
Rear suspension overhaul 500
Brake overhaul 500
Clutch 150
Engine parts and machining 2000
Exhaust 300
Hood 550
Looms 600
-------
20,600
=====

This suggests to me that ?25k would be very much on the topside. Personally I would not want to pay more than 20k for it, but in the end it comes down to what it is worth to you

Christopher

I think the paint would be nearer ?10k for a good job and it would be sensible to add at least a further ?3k for 'sundries' such as bushes, coolant rubber, brake overhaul etc etc. If Ian can get away with ?30k he will be very lucky. I think Angus said his last restoration cost was almost ?70k and although he farmed stuff out to specialists (engine, body, paint, interior) he did a lot of it himself. Maybe ChrisC has a view having just done a similar project.

personally I think it all comes down to how much you do yourself. I really dont want to add up my restoration costs but I do know that it was a lot more than ?30k but then again my car was a full nut and bolt rebuild and I didnt compromise much but i REALLY wanted to do it all myself...

For example - To have the car fully re-trimmed by someone like Mike Turley will cost you circa ?8000, I bought a kit from him for ?2500 and then paid him ?800 to do the hard bits like seat recovering oh and the cant rails (they are real rascals to trim)

I deviated from standard and have a Cosworth based 5 speed gearbox with a custom heavy duty propshaft and that was around ?3.5k

Its true, I did all the bodywork myself but I had to buy a lot pf repair panels that I never knew I needed and that quickly added up.

And then of course you want nice shiny wheels and new tyres -Ka-ching... another couple of thousand gone.

I am going to go out on a limb and say ?30k for restoration costs will give you a very nice car. To take it as far as I did? Its hard to say (because it scares me) but I probably spent around ?50-60k over quite a few years and the car has been recently valued for quite a lot more than that (although I very much doubt anyone would actually pay it)

Continuing up the quality scale.... I wonder how much Lee's restoration cost was even with the family discount :)

The silly bit is - I now think my car is over restored - I truly love it, far more than I can voice but I dont think I would restore a car to this level again.

So sensibly... I think ?25-30k for a restoration is a genuine estimate that covers purchasing all the major items - it wont give you a concours vehicle but it will be a good looking reliable car.

David and anyone else who is interested : my restoration overall cost almost exactly 40K ( now 3 years ago ) but I did do everything except the metalwork, paint and trim myself , and that included new doors and a new bonnet . I spent about 3000 hours overall, but i am very slow ! The result was that of a concours car but that was not my intention and I have used it extensively . The trim overall cost me about 5K so I think my figure included in my earlier post was an underestimate. Also, I did not buy much in the way of new accessories, but rebuilt it all myself e.g. wiper motors, heater box and fans , radiator fan, pedal box , dash panels , carburetters and a multitude of other smaller items . If you replace these rather than refurbish them, or have the refurbishment done professionally , then the cost can runaway . BTW my paint job was exactly 7K including VAT - the cost is rather less than one might expect if one is starting with bare metal, but of course if you have to pay for stripping and preparation, the cost rises

Really appreciate the information. I've taken a keen interest in the restorations undertaken by some of the members here, particularly ChrisC, very inspiring! I'll let you know how I progress but if not this one then I'm sure there'll be others.

Ian