Could this be a Flat floor?

[Dawnpatrol]

Having done some research previously at the Heritage trust on build sequencing etc....sad I know, I can say that body number is king, not chassis number, when trying to understand when changes took place, obviously not engine and gearbox.
A good example is the holes in early 4.2 bulkheads left over from the 3.8 braking system.
There are later build RHD cars with the holes than LHD without.
There might be a run of 100+ LHD OTS and then 10 RHD, so early features run out on the LHD cars before the RHD in date and chassis number order.
The body numbers were one sequential list with no differentiation LHD or RHD, but they didn't run down the production line sequentially.
They also tended to be batched by colour as well.
The parts manual has examples of changes by chassis number plus a list of specified earlier cars, mainly to significant obvious items, the detail subtle changes that would not affect fit or function probably not worth the effort to note the exceptions.

[shauniedawn]

Thank you Michael, that explains it; the early body number being the true reference to creation rather than the chassis number.

I'm pretty sure the bonnet that came with the car wasn't original to the car - based on colours. But it was too far gone to rescue even if it was.

When I took the rear axle / diff assembly to be rebuilt (trying to remember the name of the company Dana possibly? I remember the guy's name though - Eric Mills) he stripped it in front of me and pronounced it dead. He dated the casing number to October 1962 - which would fit with the car then being built ready for registering in November '62. Foolishly (it was 25+ years ago in my defence) I told him to keep it and scrap it as I had a rebuilt replacement lined up which I subsequently bought. I regret throwing that away, but hey-ho, you live and learn.

Oh, might be a daft question, but what's the "LWE" stand for in the description of your car?

Shaun.

[Dawnpatrol]

Hi Shaun,
LWE, Lightweight E.
Not an original I hasten to add! Most of the parts are original though.

[shauniedawn]

LOL - a TLA (three letter acronym!) surely should derive from three words not two. No wonder I couldn't work it out!

Bet it's lovely your LE (LWE) :D

[PeterCrespin]

LOL - a TLA (three letter acronym!) surely should derive from three words not two. No wonder I couldn't work it out!

Bet it's lovely your LE (LWE) :D

So shall we say it's SW or LW? (short wheelbase or long wheelbase)? :-)

I presume it's RD not LD (righthand drive not lefthand drive)

[shauniedawn]

So shall we say it's SW or LW? (short wheelbase or long wheelbase)? :-)

I presume it's RD not LD (righthand drive not lefthand drive)

I stand completely corrected! However, I guess were TLAs too prior to them becoming 'recognised' words.

Good call.

[kie series 1 dh]

We have a 62 ots should this have the flat floors?

[kie series 1 dh]

850354

[andrewh]

I would think yes. I used to own 850320 and that was a flat floor. But don't get too excited! they are not an advantage, more a pain the A!!!! Alright if you are Norman Dewis sized, not so good if you are more average size

[Heuer]

You need the body number - it should be 2879 or earlier for a RHD OTS. Jaguar built 2,615 cars with flat footwells (about 17% of 3.8 production, so they are not rare) before changing to a dished pattern for greater comfort. Interestingly the Factory decided to offer dished footwells as an optional kit for retro fitting to the earlier cars. Some cars had only the dished footwell fitted to the driver side when retro-fitted to save costs for the owner, which makes a lot of sense as the passenger is not affected by the lack of heel space.:

[kie series 1 dh]

Ours also has the cut out in the rear bulk head

[kie series 1 dh]

R2935