I also worked on getting the upper glove box door fitted. We used the original door as the base for the new one and I had to fill the holes for the original lock (gone) and the hinges. I used body filler, which worked fine since I'm going to paint over these areas anyway. During the week I ordered some 3/4 butt hinges for the door. When they came in, I realized that they were too big, but I was able to modify them to make them about 1/3 their original size, so they loop pretty good. Once I got the hinges, I was able to start sizing the door, which took a lot of sanding to get it to the right size and shape.
The real work this weekend was cleaning the shelves in my garage, which had gotten out of control! I'm at the point that I need to start thinking about all the parts that are going to go back on the car. So I started pulling all the boxes and milk crates of parts off the shelves and going through them, separating those that I no longer need and those that I do. I was surprised to find that I had three crates of parts I don't need any more and three of those that I need to clean up! Most of the parts are for the doors (hinges, latches, linkages, window actuators, etc.).
What was a real surprise was a box I found that the original owner gave me with the car. He had been buying some replacement parts when he owned the car and I found a bunch of turn signal, side marker and tail light lenses that I forgot I had. I had bought some myself over the last couple of years, forgetting I had these, so now I have more spares then I need.
A nice surprise was a set of B-pillar courtesy light lenses. I got into a bidding war on eBay over a set of these, which thankfully I lost. Otherwise, I'd have another set of these since I forgot that I had a set already!
The real find was the special backup light lens I have been looking for but have not been able to find. Let me explain. Unlike modern cars, the tail light lens on the early Series 1 cars do not have reflectors built into them. To meet the requirement for reflectors, the early cars had a backup light lens that had a red reflector recessed into it. This is uses on some European spec cars too. This did not meet later US requirements, so Jaguar replaced the back up light lens with a pure clear (white) one and mounted a red reflector on a big block of rubber right underneath the taillight. I never liked this because it really spoils the flow of the curve around the fender, which is one of the subtle shapes that make the car so appealing. So, I've been looking (on and off) for the backup light lens that have the red reflector, but have had very little luck finding one. Well, you can just image my surprise to find a set of lenses sitting in a box in my garage, totally forgotten about!
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| '68 Series 1 with reflector in backup lens |
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| My car with clear backup lens and reflector below the taillight. |
So, I'm at a point that there really isn't much more I can do on the car short of sending it to the paint shop. I think I'm going to pull the gas tanks out one more time so that they can paint inside that area and not get red paint all over the tanks. Less masking to do also. Now I need to make a choice. Have the paint shop do the entire paint job, or have the car towed back after the primer is put on and spend several months block sanding the car. I'm starting to lean toward having them do the whole job. More expensive, but I don't know if I can sand the car for a forth time!
