The Healey that started it
The first photograph in Exelby's own account of the car is not a Jaguar at all. It is an Austin-Healey 3000 — his sixth classic restoration, three years' work, brought to concours condition, and a disappointment:
It looked sensational, the epitome of the British sports car. But in a few short weeks I came to realise that it fell somewhat short of what its appearance promised — it was heavy, hot and quite a handful.
He took it to a well-regarded Healey specialist hoping to learn what he had done wrong, and was told the car was fine and handled exactly as a good Healey should. He sold it, and went looking for something else with twenty-five thousand pounds in his pocket.
The hour that paid for itself fifty times over
Before he found WPK38 he flew from Leeds Bradford to Southampton to see a 140 at XK specialists Twyford Moors — and arrived to find it had been sold the previous afternoon, the seller having failed to reach him the night before.
What happened next is the single most useful passage in the whole archive. A well-known auction house had a 150S in storage twelve miles away, and Twyford's Ian Mills offered to come and look at it with him:
After persuading the custodians to leave us to it, armed with a torch and a very sharp screwdriver, Ian proceeded to give me an amazing 60-minute master class in exactly where to probe to discover the real quality of any XK for sale.
The car turned out to be far worse than advertised. The hour was worth more than the trip:
Hard to quantify the real value of that hour examining the 150, but I would say at least fifty times the cost of the flight.
That knowledge went straight into the purchase of WPK38, and later into buying an XK120 roadster as well. It is set out in full on the buying an XK page.
Laugharne
WPK38 had been in the same ownership for twenty-five years and was for sale only because its owner, after a hip operation, could no longer manage the clutch. Exelby had by then seen enough cars to need a written checklist to keep them straight:
With list in hand it doesn't take long to make an accurate assessment and it also allows comparison with other cars viewed, to evaluate what represents the best possible value.
The list had an unintended effect. The seller had been dealing with bargain-hunting tyre-kickers; the sight of a buyer with a clipboard changed the tone of the visit, and he went out of his way to give a transparent account of the car.
Unlike all I'd seen before, it was a very honest example, warts-and-all, and at a sensible (for 2007) asking price of £23,500 I could see the potential to make something of it, so the deal was done.
What was wrong with it
Exelby's own condition notes, written on 25 October 2007 — the photographs in this section are timestamped between 09:56 and 10:18 that morning.
General
- Steering wheel adjustment boss jammed, and always had been
- Rides high at the front offside
- Radio original but not working; retracting aerial on the left wing
- Extra switches for bonnet and interior lights; headlamp flasher
- Brake fluid level and handbrake warning lights
- Extra courtesy lights under the dash, door-switched
- Rear screen demister bar
- "Very unusual extra pedal over dip switch. A foot rest?"
- Battery voltage gauge in the engine bay with a push button
- Fifties-type 12-volt sockets in engine bay and boot
- Oil temperature gauge with a sensor in the right side of the sump
- Jack and grease gun original and in the correct place
- Changed to a single 12-volt battery — "poor job"
- All chrome window frames exceptional and original
Rust
- Boot nearside, one small area under the strengthening bar
- Bottom rear of both back wings, to about 1.5 inches up
- Under the rear seats: surface on the offside, through on the nearside, probably electrolytic action from an aluminium inspection panel
- Sidelight mountings to the wings previously replaced, needing redoing
- Door bottoms, aluminium panel needing replacement
- Paint failed at the rear wing to body joint
Woodwork
- All veneers excellent but requiring stripping and re-varnishing
- "Messy switch arrangement RH dash panel — needs re-making"
Every one of those was addressed in the restoration that followed, and the switch panel in particular became a project of its own.