1963 Jaguar S-Type

According to the car’s South African registration document, this car was first registered in 1966. It seems to have spent its whole life in the country until its recent importation. The vendor tells us it was part of a varied collection of vehicles

We don’t know the car’s early history but there are a good many invoices from 2008 when the Jaguar received quite a bit of restoration work including an engine rebuild and a re-paint. We suspect it hasn’t been used a great deal since then, and while it is now MOT’d and awaiting registration, there are jobs to do inside and out to tidy it up.

You may consider it a great candidate for a rolling restoration, we think it's a bit better than that.

The ivory paint is generally consistent but the re-spray is starting to show its age here and there, with the odd bit of fading and a few blemishes on the boot. The door bottoms are showing signs of corrosion but it’s mostly just the sort of thing that needs to be caught, cleaned up and painted again.

There’s been some filler applied to the nose behind the bumper, but the sills, wings and arches look good. Elsewhere you’ll find the odd nick, chip or minor bubble, but the overall impression is of a decent older paint-job - not neccesarily something you'd be rushing to re-do.

The chrome is also mellowed and pitted but still with plenty of shine to catch the sun, though the front bumper is slightly off centre. Door fit is pretty good in smooth, even flanks with only the rather elderly door rubbers poking out to draw the eye.

Four handsome painted wire wheels look in sound condition but the tyres, although almost unworn, are cracked here and there and could do with replacement. The knock-off spinners on the rear wheels have three ears rather than two. The lamps lenses, lights and glass all appear intact, though the windscreen is missing its bright surround-strip from the seal.

One mystery hole in the top of the wing probably shows where a mirror has been repositioned - a filler plug would tidy it up. The pair of little circular white reflectors on the nose, near the foglamps, is an unusual touch!

The seats, door cards and carpets are in great shape, with the oxblood-coloured Ambla showing almost no signs of age. The dash and door tops have suffered a little more, with the veneers fading and peeling here and there, especially on the wood slabs near the top of the A-pillars. The interior lamp has lost its lens and bulb.

Some of the trim fit around the dash needs seeing to and there are no heater controls because the heater has been removed and is in the boot. There’s a hole where the radio was and the little switch panel beneath the slide-out ashtray needs re-instating too. The gearstick’s leather gaiter has been replaced by a rubber one. Under the central bank of four gauges and six switches is a charming little pull-out shelf with a chrome handle. For meatpaste sandwiches and bottles of ginger beer?

The steering column is not secured as it should be just now - there’s a bit of waggly movement that needs sorting. The lights work but we haven’t been able to complete a proper test run so we can’t vouch for every gauge and switch. The boot area is looking good thanks to a recent carpet set and the spare wheel well is dry and unrusty. The spare is mounted on another decent-looking 72-spoke painted wire wheel, and the jack is present.

The car has an automatic choke that functions if you remember to depress the accelerator and release it before starting, but the throttle return spring has let go, so it’s a case of hooking a toe under the pedal to drag it back up. This has prevented us from giving the car a proper run, but aside from the engine sounding slightly ‘tappety’ at cold idle, everything appears in order.

The engine bay is agreeably clean and sports a brand new battery. The air cleaner is a nice original feature and apart from a bit of surface bloom on the cam covers and carbs, it looks very smart. There is a bit of filler evident in a seam in the driver’s side inner wing and the passenger side of the bonnet, under the edge, has had a skim too. Some of the wiring needs to be tidied up and insulated.

The car’s structural condition looks encouraging when viewed from below. Anti-rust wax has been applied here and there and the general impression is of a dry, sound shell.

All the lights (inc. dashboard) work well.

Someone spent a lot of money on this car in 2008.

It received a full re-spray and probably some bodywork restoration too, plus an engine rebuild and attention to various other aspects including steering, brakes and suspension. This is all detailed in more than three-dozen invoices in the car’s history folder, and it’ll give you plenty of practice at researching Rand-Sterling exchange rates to discover what it added up to.

There’s also a South African registration certificate and a letter from HMRC confirming that clearance checks have been satisfied and the registration may be applied for. The next owner will need to send a form to the DVLA for a V5C.

This is a nice old girl deserving of a bit of attention to get her back to full fitness. A thorough check-through is advised but a new throttle return spring and a fix to the steering column mounting may well be all that’s keeping this S-type from the open road. Oh, and the heater…they can do without them in Natal but it’s a bit chillier here.

Then you’d be able to enjoy the car as you improved it. Re-finishing the interior woodwork would transform the cabin and bring it up to the nearly-new standard of the seats and door cards. Then, if you were so minded, you could tackle the little paint blemishes and replace the odd bit of chrome.

We’ve estimated this car at £4,000 to £8,000: a trifling sum for a high-performance luxury car with impeccable classic credentials, especially when the best examples are advertised at £25,000 and more. Like some of the cop shows we mentioned in the introduction, it’s a bit of a throwback, really…it’s 25 years since you could find dry, non-rotten 1960s Jaguars for this money.

But first of all, avoid lockdown risks and salt exposure by getting the car moved on a truck. We can suggest car transportation companies whom our clients use regularly, expect to pay about £2 a mile, so don't be put off by the simple logistics of getting it to your home.

Inspection is always encouraged (within Govt. guidelines of course), and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.