92 EDITION 198 JAGUAR MAGAZINE
WHY DO SOME CAR RESTORATIONS TAKE SO
long? It’s an interesting journey, but if I look back
quickly at the star t of this restoration I might suggest
the purchase of a set of new wire wheels in 2009 was
the event which got this XK150 on the path to being
driven on our roads once more. Then the big stage
that really got things going was the commencement of
the body rebuild and painting. That happened in early- So either six, or ten, years ago (depending which
side of the fence you’re on) for this restoration, and it’s
still a while before it will be fully mobile.
The last ar ticle featured in edition #194 and showed
the engine rebuild nearing completion. It showed
photos taken late in July 2018. The nex t thing to
happen was the sump being fitted to the block, and
this then paved the way for the engine to be turned the
right way up for the installation of the rebuilt head. It
was a relatively straight for ward job and the fly wheel
was then bolted into place.
Friend Geof f ensured the fly wheel was centrally located
by doing a close inspection through where the drive
shaf t was to go, and arranging some fine tuning to its
position as we didn’t have a dummy shaf t available.
What nex t was the call? Install the gearbox.
There had been no real dramas rebuilding the engine
and I really appreciated Geof f’s attention to detail and
getting things right. It was a straight for ward job to
lif t the gearbox into position and bolt it onto the block.
The assembly was held in place by a lif ting frame and
so: “Where do we go from here was the call?”.
If we just turned the lif ting frame and engine ninet y
degrees there was no reason it couldn’t be dropped
into place on the chassis. A major stage achieved,
apar t from some minor adjustments to some of the
01 Empty restored chassis awaiting the body.
02 'Team Taylor' looking proud of themselves for manhandling
the body back onto the chassis. Obviously, the occasion was a
milestone in the life and rejuvenation of XK150 Fixed Head Coupé
#S824191. The car was despatched on 15 July, 1958 to Dominion
Motors in Adelaide for the very famous Derek Jolly, Lotus Distributor
in Australia, Le Mans and national Lotus racer and jazz music
legend, promoter and recorder. He co-drove at Le Mans in 1959 in
his works Lotus partnered by Graham Hill. This XK150 replaced his
XK140 as a Lotus tow car. Dave Taylor bought it in 1971 from MG Q
Type racer Rod Murphy.BEFORE AFTER
Dave Taylor's XK150 came off the road when it was 16 years old
(Pure Gold Restoration)
taylor xk15 0
AFTER 45 YEARS01
02