1955 Jaguar Mark VII M Convertible Custom Modified Collectible Car

Description

This is a one-of-kind specially built car and is offered as is, where is, with no warranties included of any kind. As soon as payment is accepted by seller, buyer assumes full and total responsibility for the car and its operation.
We built this award winning car as we thought Jaguar might have done it as a concept car in 1955. It was built as a show car pulling a matching boat trailer with anantique Chris Craft. The mahogany and ash on the sides of the car match the wood of the boat. (Although the boat and trailer are not for sale, one picture of the entire rig is included here for information purposes.)
Originally the car was a 4 door salon (sedan) wasting away, sunroof open, in the desert outside Reno, Nevada. We started the reconstruction there and eventually moved it east to finish it. The entire build took four years.
On the outside, the car is dimensionally exactly as Jaguar built it. None of the sheet metal was changed except to remove the top and weld the back doors closed as it was changed into a convertible. Other changes included specially built alloy wheels, larger tail lights, removal of bumper over-rides, conversion of back-up light into a high stop light, the wood feature on the sides, halogen headlights, and sealing of the top cowling vent and one of the gas fill doors.
The hydraulic top and boot are custom cut and fitted over a modified frame taken from a 90's era Jaguar convertible.
Under the skin, nearly everything is changed. Thefront "clip", from the firewall forward, is from a Ford Mustang, including custom built strut towers and disc brakes (all around). Front spindles were lowered about two inches to get a better stance for the car. The engine is a Ford 302 fitted with an RV cam (for torque to pull the trailer), high capacity radiator, electric cooling fan, chromed exhaust headers, Holly four barrel carb on an aluminum Ford intake, and an automatic 3 speed C-6 transmission from an F150. Dual exhausts use straight-through glass packs with resonators at the bumper (slightly noisy). Rear end is Mustang Posi-Traction installed to get the trailer in and out of the water more easily. (We only did this once.) Rear springs and other suspension parts are original, rebuilt. The trunk is finished inside with embroidered "Jaguar" in the leather liner (see pics). Inside the trunk is a fuel cell which replaced the original two "kidney tanks". Car also has air lifts with 100psi capacity taken from a Chevy RV. Air valve is in the trunk. Frame is reinforced on each side with a box rail filled with luan mahogany to give car more stiffness. It has adjusters under the hood in case the door gaps get too narrow. (They never have.)
Other details:1) Billet cut wheels (designed by me) built by Colorado Wheels with valves on the inside. Color match on wheels isappliqué and can be removed if all-alloy look is preferred. Tires are unidirectional Michelins, nitrogen filled. 2) Paint is metallic Rosewood, a special order Chrysler finish inthe late 90's.3) Interior is authentic Jaguar leather (very expensive) over Mustang buckets. Wood on doors and dash is restored original burled walnut and (maybe) ash.4) Dashboard is all original with new "vintage" instruments. Rear seat was cut down from original toaccommodate the top.5) Radio is Kenwood with single CD and remote. Two speakers, one in each door.6) Motorola GPS which is mostly useless due to small size, noise, and vibration.7) After market "hot rod" A/C and heater which needs recharge.8) Always kept in climate controlled garage.
A new owner should know the car was never intended for highway travel and is best on city streets. (It is great fun on cruise-ins!) Yes, it will run highway speeds but you would not want to do that for very long. Plus it has only lap seat belts. The original car did not even have those. Rear windows must be DOWN before top is put up or down. Learned the hard way how important that instruction was. Whyselling? Primarily because I have grown older with a bad back since completing the project. And if it matters, building this car was well into six figures.
Possible issues: 1) Power windows are slow and like to "hang up". Regulators should probably be replaced but Inever needed that so did not bother. 2) There is no emergency brake. Weforgot it. Could easily be installed by someone who knew what they were doing. 3) Doors do not lock but trunk does. 4) Car pulled over 3500 pounds of boat and trailer when we showed it, but we found the Mustang brakes were really not strong enough to do that well. Trailering something much lighter would be fine.
Why so many references to Ford? Because when we built this car, Jaguar was owned by Ford and we wanted to keep the Jaguar in the "Ford family". Of course, a little while later Jaguar was sold by Ford to "Tata".