1952 Jaguar XK120 Fixed Head Coupe body shell # J1313 Originally on LHD chassis # 679312

The XK120 Fixed Head Coupe is truly one of most exciting motorcar shapes ever drawn. Small wonder then that the upcoming Gooding & Company Pebble Beach auction advertising is headlining three exceptional motorcars and one of them is an XK120 Fixed Head Coupe.

Here for you to consider is this eminently restorable, XK120 Fixed head Coupe body shell. The XK120 FHC that this body shell came from was probably taken off the road no later than the 1960's or early 1970's. It was taken apart to be restored, the project stalled, and had until recently sat stored in a chicken coop. As so often happens with an abandoned restoration effort, parts get lost and scattered never to be joined together again. The remainder of this Jaguar has been lost to time and the body shell is all that I have to offer here. The original body tag "J 1313" is still riveted to the scuttle panel in the engine compartment. The chassis data plate is not on the body shell and the new owner who will presumably mate it to an existing XK120 chassis will have to decide to either title it from the chassis number or information derived from this body number. I do not have a title for this body shell. As an example of a Fixed Head Coupe built in the same time frame, chassis # 679308 was built 31 January 1952. The body number on that car is # J1314.

This body shell shows fascinating details of preserved history: The yellow primer that can be seen in the engine area , cabin interior and boot was sprayed on decades ago after the car was disassembled for restoration. The red oxide primer on the outside was sprayed recently. Until recently, the outside was covered in the same yellow primer from the restoration shop of old and a few areas were painted maroon, although the original color was black. The outside finish was removed to assess how original the bodywork was. The removal of the paint and primer revealed that, apart from the factory lead loading of the body joins, the main body shell does not contain any body filler whatsoever with the exception of the lead loading used to finish the work done during the removal of the front wing sidelamp housings. In these areas metal was welded in and lead was used to smooth over the welded over areas. Perhaps they were removed in a misguided attempt to "streamline" the body after they started to rust. You can see the sidelamps themselves were moved to the lower front of the wings. Perhaps to "update" the car to the "new" XK140 look in yet another misguided effort. Even though this body shell shows the typical rust that occurred in the first decade or so of its life it was stored indoors for decades after that. For that reason the parts of the body that do not have rust have very clean metal. To my eyes, it would be a joy to weld new metal to the clean metal that is on this body shell. Naturally, all of the rusted areas have repair panels available for the restoration it will have in this new century. Separate from the main body shell, the bonnet and boot lid do have plastic filler in them. I would rate the condition of the bonnet as good but it will need a fair amount of work. The boot lid is in rather poor condition and plan on rebuilding it.

Most importantly, there has been no major collision damage to this body shell that have twisted the original dimensions. The left front wing was dented on the lower front but it is 95% roughed out and ready to be butt welded where it is torn and refinished again with little or no filler. The roof canopy has some dents and a few sheet metal tears from decades of improper storage but I believe it will be straightforward to fix. The car rusted in the usual ways and that included the rusting of the sills. When the time came to restore the car the shop realized that with the sills rusted, the car could not be easily separated from the chassis without twisting the windscreen pillars as that would then have been the only thing holding the halves together. The solution to them was to carefully cut the pillars to separate the front half from the back half. To their great credit, the cuts are extremely precise and presently the screen pillars are accurately rejoined, not through welding, but cleverly and rigidly attached with flat metal stock using the existing drilled holes that once fixed the early style wind screen surrounds to the body. The correct method to rejoin them is to first fix the chrome inner and outer windscreen surrounds with their small bolts to the windscreen and only then, after assuring that the windscreen surrounds precisely line up in the holes, should the pillars be welded permanently. The bonnet hinges move freely and have no play in their bushings. As you can see from the photos, included in this sale is a older but unused set of reproduction sills for the new owner.

The chrome window frames are in great condition and and the rear no draught ventilators are in superb condition. Also, but not seen in the photos, the buyer will be provided the entire internals for the right door that includes the window glass and winder.

The body shell is supported by a rolling "chassis" made of wood and has huge 8" castors that allow it to be pushed, literally, with one finger. The track width between the wheels left to right is comparable to the track width of an XK120 so it has been made to easily roll up two sided car hauling ramps. The useful locking features on the wheels enable it to not roll when required and should prove useful in shipping it. There are several images below that have descriptions with them and these will provide further information of the body shell's condition.

Please note: The left rear wing / fender, the PF770 headlamps and headlamp rims are not for sale. Everything else shown on the body shell is included in the sale including the rolling carriage.

I am an ardent early Jaguar enthusiast in the Detroit, Michigan USA suburb of beautiful Bloomfield Hills and the body shell is located near me in the Detroit area suburb of Roseville. You may reach me through the Ebay "Contact the Seller" email method or call my office at 248.594.5906 during business hours of 9AM to 5PM Eastern Standard Time to hopefully answer any questions. Inspections of the body shell are welcome before the auctions end.

Payment: A $500 non-refundable Paypal deposit is required within 24 hours of purchasing the body shell through the "Buy It Now" option and the remainder of the funds must be paid by wire transfer to my account within 72 hours from the time of the initial "Buy It Now" purchase . To bid you must have a verified Paypal address. This project is sold as-is with no warranty or returns. I have done everything possible through words and photographs to describe this body shell as accurately as possible and can't be responsible for something I did not notice or was not asked about. I want very much to keep my Ebay 100% positive feedback rating so if anything this item is over described. I would rather know too much than too little when I am buying something from a description and photos and that most emphatically applies to Ebay listings!

Shipping: This can be shipped worldwide and I will help arrange shipping in a limited way to the best of my ability but the buyer is responsible for all shipping charges.

Thanks for looking and I hope this "work of art in the rough" resides on your chassis soon!

Above you can see the front dash assembly. The bonnet hinges are free and have no play in the bushings. When the car was disassembled in the early days, it was sprayed with zinc chromate primer except in the boot area and on the dash assembly shown here. It has surface rust in these areas but look on top of the heater box where it was sanded for a few seconds. The surface rust came right off and you can start to see shiny metal.

The wood in the two doors are rot-free and are very rebuildable.

The replacement sills that are provided are not welded to this body shell but should be welded properly later when the body shell is jigged properly.

There appears to be only loose, scaly surface rust in the flanges where the windscreen glass sits. I have seen rust holes here on other FHC's.

Here you can see the old primer in the engine compartment. If you scratch this metal it is shiny underneath. I say that because I have seen rusty XK's that promise no joy when trying to weld new replacement panels to the adjoining sheet metal that is to be repaired. The Bees bolts that are left on this body shell will come off with little effort. Another indicator of the relatively short time it was on the road and its long indoor storage.

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