#1 At last - the W&P E-type hardtop
Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2023 2:58 pm
This is a story that dates back nearly 30 years when I first saw an advert in a magazine for these in Motor Sport. Being a hoarder, I searched my archive and found this advert in the April 1968 Motor Sport magazine. It's about the best I have seen of the few that seem to exist.
Opinions of the hard top seem to be that people love it or hate it with no in between. By far the majority think that the only thing you can do to an E-type is to spoil it. But each to their own I suppose.
I fell in love with the look and then spent many, many years watching Ebay and adverts until in Januar 2022 I finally found one for sale in Manchester. The owner owned and raced an E-type and bought this example in the 1980's, then put it in his garage and dismantled it to restore and use it - something that in the end never happened and the advert on Ebay was posted by his son. I watched the time go by and no one posted a bid until nearly at the end a bid of £900 was placed. What do I do? Well, after so many years the only thing was to late to the last minute and post a much higher bid on the basis that I had no idea of the maximum the bidder had made. shortly after, I'd won with a bid of £1,200! ecstatic was hardly the word for my feelings! Not long after the sone delivered the shell and parts to my specialist for a complete fefurb:-
[url=https://postimg.cc/5XKPKjqF]
Complete, but all those years in storage had done it no good. But things dragged, and my specialist, who had known and used for years, never even started the project so one year later another firm I knew well went and picked up the parts and slowly started the project when time permitted. No worries here because I knew they were snowed under and the agreement was as and when they could.
We'll cut the story short and just say it took months, mostly because the shell had deteriorated and had to be completely regelled and restrengthened and this is the result.
The idea was not to paint it but take it home, fettle it, and then paint it and put on the car.
It fitted pretty well - better than hoped, and so all that remained was to get it painted, but now comes the unfortunate part of the story. In brief, I am not as well as I hoped, and so decisions have to be made, and this will include selling the hard top, still unpainted and in undercoat so the new owner can choose the colour they want.This will also apply to my two cars, this 1961 E-type and the Lynx XKSS. Sometimes thing don't turn out as you planned I guess.
Opinions of the hard top seem to be that people love it or hate it with no in between. By far the majority think that the only thing you can do to an E-type is to spoil it. But each to their own I suppose.
I fell in love with the look and then spent many, many years watching Ebay and adverts until in Januar 2022 I finally found one for sale in Manchester. The owner owned and raced an E-type and bought this example in the 1980's, then put it in his garage and dismantled it to restore and use it - something that in the end never happened and the advert on Ebay was posted by his son. I watched the time go by and no one posted a bid until nearly at the end a bid of £900 was placed. What do I do? Well, after so many years the only thing was to late to the last minute and post a much higher bid on the basis that I had no idea of the maximum the bidder had made. shortly after, I'd won with a bid of £1,200! ecstatic was hardly the word for my feelings! Not long after the sone delivered the shell and parts to my specialist for a complete fefurb:-
[url=https://postimg.cc/5XKPKjqF]
Complete, but all those years in storage had done it no good. But things dragged, and my specialist, who had known and used for years, never even started the project so one year later another firm I knew well went and picked up the parts and slowly started the project when time permitted. No worries here because I knew they were snowed under and the agreement was as and when they could.
We'll cut the story short and just say it took months, mostly because the shell had deteriorated and had to be completely regelled and restrengthened and this is the result.
The idea was not to paint it but take it home, fettle it, and then paint it and put on the car.
It fitted pretty well - better than hoped, and so all that remained was to get it painted, but now comes the unfortunate part of the story. In brief, I am not as well as I hoped, and so decisions have to be made, and this will include selling the hard top, still unpainted and in undercoat so the new owner can choose the colour they want.This will also apply to my two cars, this 1961 E-type and the Lynx XKSS. Sometimes thing don't turn out as you planned I guess.