Description
Like many classic cars and their owners, the journey we've been on together only partially refers to the actual ones on tarmac. After purchasing this car it quickly and sadly developed persistent and major running issues, which swiftly brought me to another one of those motoring analogies and cliches - a fork in the road. Go one way and plough a ton of cash into an ailing block, with no idea of where a completion or financial endpoint may lie. Or take the other route and sacrifice originality over the predictability of the project and reliability of the end product. The heart said the former, the head and wallet dictated the latter - which is what, for once, I listened to. So then it was a question of which engine to replace it with: a like-for-like 3. 4, a 3. 8 or a 4. 2, a new build, an old build, rebuilt or recommissioned. Again, somewhat dictated to by a modest budget, I sat and waited for the right engine to come up. And sure enough, along it came. So she now runs a 3. 4 engine, professionally stripped, polished & ported to race spec and then put together by Jestyn Thomas of Thruxton Classic Restorations; Jaguar specialist and legend amongst the community.
The installation was then carried out and heavily documented by Kyle Mundy of Skyrocket Automative, a gentleman and company of growing notoriety and reputation within the classic car world.
Is she perfect? No. There's a couple of minor component renewals which I'm having done in the next few weeks and there's the odd yet minor paint imperfection inherent with a vehicle of this age which hasn't spend its life confined to a garage. The leather is superb - red, fed and supple. That said, a new carpet and set of door cards would truly launch her appearance into the stratospheric. But these tweaks are minor, relatively inexpensive and would prove an immensely satisfying and immediately achievable project for the next owner. However, they could be ignored altogether without any loss of appeal, or if you intended on taking her racing and felt them unnecessary.
For full price, I'll supply a spare set of spinners along with the extracted, original 3. 4 block - should you wish to strip it for parts, such as a professionally lightened flywheel or those iconic and highly sought after cam covers, or simply resell it to allow a shed-bound surgeon an attempt at resuscitation. So what's been the result of all this patience, hard work and precision engineering? A '67 Mk2 running what is effectively a brand-new XK 3. 4 race spec engine which had north of £9k spent on it, with little more than delivery miles on it. Brakes are Coopercraft front and rear, meaning all this power is firmly on a leash should you ever need to anchor up - or indeed truly do her justice, stretch her legs and reveal her full potential at Goodwood. However, in the meantime you have a power plant which starts on the button, makes the most gorgeous chorus thanks to its Coombs-style stainless exhaust, and yet doesn't drip, smoke or knock. The carbs have been expertly set-up, so to describe how she runs as flawless feels somehow to do her a disservice. You'll occasionally find yourself blipping the throttle in traffic, just to convince yourself she hasn't died, simply because it runs so quietly.
