One challenge that is taking a while is removing the door handle and the window frame. The door handle mechanism unbolted very easily but refused to exit the door. Much head-scratching ensued before having to give in and ask an ‘idiot question’ on the SS part of...

The tool tray / kit comprises a selection of 27 individual tools, including wheel changing equipment and items for servicing the car. These tools are located within profiled recesses laid out in a purpose built tool tray covered in a green baize like material. The...

The MK4 engine is basically the same as fitted to the SS100 - it is an overhead valve engine as opposed to the later XK overhead cam. Sadly, I have noticed that the alloy rocker cover has a hair-line crack between the clamp bolts which is disappointing, after a number...

Not too much to say on this post, the picture says it all... The Leaping Jaguar by Frederick Gordon Crosby is one of the most instantly recognisable motoring symbols in the world. Yet, when SS Cars launched the Jaguar model in 1935, the brochures and other sales...

 There have been lots of tiny progress steps taken over the last few months, none of them are in the critical path of restoration but I had to finish off trimming my vintage Riley competition car so that it can be put up for sale during 2024. I need to bring this blog...

Well this post has been a long time coming, mostly due to my career meaning I was working abroad a lot and partly because there was a lot of head scratching and discover needed to move forwards. Fundamentally I am still aiming to install metal rocker panels to replace...

I had not really intend to fit the doors until much later, but I needed to know where the inside edges were to ensure that when I weld in the rocker panels (door sills) the door does not hit them and *not* close. So I thought I could fit the door, take a few...

In Part 1, I made a paper template for the repair patch and that repair patch needed a strengthening bead included in the fabrication. Naturally I do not have a beading machine so I will have to make that beading by hand. YouTube came to the rescue as usual and I...

Where to start? Always a hard question when you commence a restoration and this car needs so much work. I imagine I will jump from one thing to another as my mood takes me but initially I have decided that because I do not yet have sufficient spare cash to rebuild any...

The construction continues. Using the technique for bending angle iron that I identified before, it was time to get-on-with-it. So I fabricated the top of the seat frame out of one piece of 3mm thick, 25mm angle iron. It looks like the factory used 20x25mm angle but I...

Working on dirty cars is not as nice as working on clean ones. Clearing off years of grease (some of it will date back to the 1940's) is a whole different ballgame but I will get to that at some point, but initially, I wanted to wash off all the dust from years of...

I cant tell you how much I was looking forward to the day when we transported the car from Steve's garage to mine so that the restoration of this super elegant car could start. The tyres were pumped up and would hopefully hold air long enough for the half hour journey...

 The passenger seat is sadly beyond being restored, it has quite a few moving parts and all of them are either totally corroded (fused together) or they have rotted through. The hoop that supports the back of the seat has a lot of holes and is dangerously thin where...

Today, I hired a medium-sized van because it needed to have at least 3m (10 feet) of internal loading area so that the front wings would fit in! First-born & I drove round to Steve's place and collected all the parts that were not fitted to the car. Well I say...

,I am slowly collecting parts from Steve's garage, basically anything I can fit into the boot of my car. So I have the boot lid, the spare wheel cover, radiator grill and those fabulous 12" P100 headlights which despite their immense size I rather suspect were still...