1961 JAGUAR MK2 RESTORATION

 
 
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Sophisticated Elegance Comes Back to Life

The Jaguar MK2 is one of the most beautiful Jaguars ever built and one of the highest-quality cars they ever made. Lots of work goes into restoring one of these, but at the end of the day, it’s all worth it as you end up with a historic piece of automotive art. Over the years, we’ve repaired and restored quite a few MK2s and each project has been equally rewarding. Our fearless leader Peter Jurgens is himself the proud owner of an immaculate 1961 Mark 2.

We love the Mark 2s hold a special place in our hearts, so we were eager to get started on a complete restoration project. This beautiful 1961 Jaguar MK2 came to us in pretty good shape, driving well, but just looking a bit tired. Time for a complete Mark 2 makeover! It’s a longtime California car that has never had any rust or accident damage, which thankfully made our job a bit easier.

The car arrived as a very original, nice-looking and -driving MK2, but our client wanted it to look as it just rolled off the assembly line. And we were ever so happy to oblige.

The original color was gunmetal gray, but our client wanted to switch it up a bit with a gorgeous royal blue. The paint and body was been done by Acme Autobody here in San Luis Obispo, and they did a fantastic job as usual. The car began its life as an automatic, but we converted it to a four-speed with overdrive, as well as fully rebuilding the entire drivetrain. The upholstery was also completely restored in a gorgeous light-tan using only the best materials, and the elegant wood trim inside was re-veneered to make it look better than new.

A project like this takes the talents of many people who work here in-house as well as many others with whom we’ve worked and built reputations for years. We would like to sincerely thank Acme Autobody, Catron Coach Craft, Madera Concepts, Moss Motors, and XKs Unlimited for the great work and for providing quality parts and materials.

Our client was very pleased with the finished product and we hope he has many more years of fun behind the wheel of this classy Jag.

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SLIDESHOW

Click on any of the following thumbnails for full-size photos. You can navigate through the slides by clicking on the right and left-hand arrows on the photo

If you have any questions about this car or any other classic car restoration projects we have in the shop, we would love to hear from you. Make sure to visit our British Sports Cars Blog to get the most recent updates on what’s going on in and around the shop, and to see all the photos from this project.

Cheers!