1948 JAGUAR MKIV 1.5 SALOON

This wonderful Jaguar MKIV 1. 5 Saloon was despatched to Henlys of London on the 8th November 1948. The Jaguar left the factory in Black with Brown leather upholstery and a Jaguar Daimler Vehicle Information sheet confirms the car still retains its original 1775cc engine. KLE 647 appears in original specification and presents beautifully with a lovely aged look and stunning. original leather with a truly delightful patina.
From the detailed and comprehensive history file we know the Jaguar had one owner in Hampshire from 1960 up to the 1990's. The Jaguar was in regular use from 1960 to 1967 and then placed in the owner's garage on blocks. awaiting refurbishment work. The Jaguar was left untouched until May 1984 when restoration began and completion took almost four years. the finishing date being the March 1988.
The Jaguar was fully stripped down and the frame and under panels were taken down to bare metal and treated to prima. five undercoats and two top coats of paint. The body was also taken down to bare metal. new door pillar supports fabricated and door pillar bottom sections fabricated. The doors were refurbished with new panels and the bodywork restored as necessary. The interior was treated to a new headlining. new carpets. new sunvisors. draught excluders and the woodwork was stripped down and given twenty coats of French polish and the seats given to professional upholsterer for careful refurbishment retaining as much originality as possible and re-stitching the original leather. The engine. gearbox and rear axle were all stripped down and re-conditioned and rebuilt. The engine has had new pistons. new main and big end bearings and the cylinder head was rebuilt.  Other work and expenditure included re-chroming the bumpers. new tyres and tubes. new windscreen. new exhaust and the steering. suspension and braking system were removed from the car and stripped. rebuilt and re-fitted to the car.  When the restoration was completed. the long term owner wrote to the Jaguar Drivers' Club in order to retain the vehicles original registration number and in his letter enclosed an MOT from 1967 and continuation logbook. The Club confirmed that in 1988. only 28 pre-war and 91 post-war examples were known to have survived.
Since restoration the Jaguar stayed in Hampshire until arriving with us in late 2014. We sold the car to a customer based near York and carried out preparation work to include rebuilding the steering box. re-conditioning the rev counter. fitting new king pins and bushes and replacing track rod ends. We know the car has spent from 1960-2014 in the same county and from previous MOT certificates we can see the car has covered around 13000 miles since 2005 and is clearly capable of regular use. From the paperwork it appears the Jaguar covered very little mileage from restoration to 2005 but over the past eleven years the Jaguar has proven a robust. useable car. exactly as it was intended to be when built. The restoration was carried out to a very high standard and was carried out with sympathetic view to keeping as much originality as possible. KLE 647 retains beautifully aged upholstery with a lovely smell of original. aged leather and the paintwork and bodywork are still lovely with a beautiful deep shine and no major issues. The brightwork still gleams and the car has a lovely level of detail and still retains its tool kit.
On the road the Jaguar is impressive with good performance coming from the 1. 5 litre engine. The engine holds very good oil pressure. it performs well under acceleration and feels strong as one would expect after a rebuild. The four speed gearbox changes up and down smoothly. the brakes are efficient and the steering and handling feel firm and precise. The Jaguar file also contains various recent invoices that show it has been very well maintained in recent years. KLE 647 is a wonderful find and has a fabulous mix of originality. patina. quality and honesty. The car is stunning in every respect and importantly it has proven to be reliable. useable and fantastic fun to drive.
Please note there are additional photographs on our own website (Classic & Sportscar Centre). All cars that we sell are supplied with 12 months MOT. a service and function check at our sister company Malton Coachworks who are specialists in mechanical preparation and restoration of classic cars. A link to our website does not comply with eBay rules so please feel free to look us up on Google. Part exchanges are welcomed. if you would like to get a price then please contact Andrew Welham on: 01944 758 000.

Also published at eBay.co.uk

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