The rear bumper features a long chrome tipped rubber seal that serves to close the gap between the bumper edge and the body. The seal must be attached before the bumper is installed (there isn’t enough room to manage this otherwise). The replacement rubber comes a little oversized, and must......
The chrome on all four door handles was acceptable, but not up to the better quality of all the other chrome (see chrome assessment), so the handle bodies were re-chromed. After cleaning, the innards were lightly blasted to get rid of old caked-on road grime. With a little grease and......
Two and half weeks after driving the Jaguar to Beaver Brook Auto Body, the exterior has been carefully sanded down in preparation for the first coat of British Racing Green urethane base paint (it’s a slow process). See also the post about paint chemistry. A few minor imperfections were fixed,......
Removing or tightening the wire wheel hub spinner is somewhat disquieting because the usual method is to whack the end of the spinner with a special copper/hide hammer! Even in a skilled hand, it’s hard not to dent and scratch the spinner arm. And the leverage needed to loosen a......
Our Jaguar left the factory with twin Lucas wing mirrors, but the mounting bolts rusted to the body so the bolts had to be sacrified (both were cut off) during disassembly. Fortunately, excellent replica Lucas mirrors – missing only the back name plate – are readily available. The original back......
In 1960, the Jaguar Mk2 was outfitted with lap seat belts (which were first offered as standard equipment by Saab in 1958). Incremental safety improvements since then include the 3-point belt (invented by Nils Bohlin from Saab, but launched by Volvo), high back seats with head restraints, airbags, collapsible steering......
It’s time for the BRG exterior paint. Everything (well, nearly everything) was stripped off to make it easier for Chris at Beaver Brook Auto. A cool day plus the lack of a windscreen makes the short drive an adventure. Bruce followed in his red Mk2 to document the journey. By......
As has been discussed previously, Lucas supplied nearly all the electrical components to the British car industry during the wonderful classic era. Our Jaguar was officially issued with a Lucas “King of the Road” GT9A battery that was manufactured in a black container with Lucas embossed on the front side.......
These days chrome, whether new or restored, is extremely expensive due, in part, to the environmental concerns about the chrome plating process (the EPA lists hexavalent chromium as a “priority” air and water pollutant). Fortunately, most of our Jaguar chrome (and there is a lot of it!) survived in good......
The Jaguar’s rocker panel that runs under the door frames has a large access hole facing the rear wheel arches. This 1.5″ opening is useful for fishing the wiring harness, but it needs to be completely blocked or else moisture will seep into the rocker cavity. Our original plastic plugs......
