Jaguar Mk2 3.8 'Coombs'
Description
The 3.8 Litre Mk2 ‘Coombs’ is arguably the ultimate Jaguar Mk2 variant. With just 33 examples rumoured to have left the Coombs Of Guildford workshop, fettled buy John Coombs himself, and very few ‘Road’ rather than ‘Race’ cars this was an incredibly special commission for the Hilton & Moss team. This particular car was in an incredibly original condition when it first came to us, both running and driving but starting to feel its age.
The brief on this Jaguar was to sympathetically refresh the car for reliable European touring whilst carefully retaining original parts and the integrity of the car. We first carried out one of our trusted full vehicle inspections giving a clear overview of the cars condition. General wear and tear plagued this Mk2 including internal engine wear, gearbox internal wear, perished bushes, rubbers and hoses, tired interior and various small paint repairs completed poorly over the cars life.
It was immediately clear from the customer that a full restoration was not the desired avenue. As a rust free, straight, well gapped and complete car a bare metal strip down was not only unnecessary but felt a misjustice to what was a real ‘survivor car’.
We begin with the removal and full strip down of both the engine and gearbox. This car retained its rare factory Coombs upgrade build specification in the history folder detailing the rare optional extras. During the engine rebuild we carefully retained original parts where possible and replaced but restored any parts that were not suitable for the build. Coombs extras included: special induction manifold, Gas flowed cylinder head, larger inlet valves, straight though exhaust system, lightened flywheel, 9:1 compression pistons and much more. During the rebuild a variety of our in house upgrades and revisions were made to ensure reliable long term motoring. The 4-speed overdrive gearbox was carefully rebuilt, correctly finished and re-mated to the gearbox with an uprated clutch to ensure the correctly delivery of the increased horsepower. The focus of the engine was not maximum power but a smooth power delivery with plenty of torque for effortless yet swift road driving. The engine went through a careful run in process on the dyno before going back into the car. This ensure no issues are present before the install process. During the rebuild process all related components were rebuilt including the larger Coombs upgraded HD8 2’’ carburettors.
Whilst the engine and gearbox received much needed attention the suspension was also stripped and uprated. Once again attention was taken to install parts as per the build sheet which included the correct KONI suspension. All of the suspension bushes and perishables were renewed and uprated for a controlled but not overly firm ride. At this time the differential was examined, resealed and re oiled. The suspension was then set up and aligned by the team.
For relaxed modern touring we fitted a discreet switch panel consisting of a battery cut off, fan override switch, choke override and fuel pump change over. During the mechanical phase of this works we installed one of our ‘Touring’ twin fuel pump kits. This gives a client piece of mind when touring long distance and allows the change over from PUMP 1 to PUMP 2 with the flick of a switch. Control of both the fan and choke when desired also gives greater driver control and comfort.
It was at this stage a decision had to be made on the body work. The car retained original gaps and panels but would require small repairs on a great number of places. This quantity of paint work blends seemed a misjustice and thus it was decided to paint only the full exterior of the car and repair only as required. The car was painted in its original shade of Opalescent Silver Grey. Upon completion it was refit with all new gaskets and seals to ensure no water ingress.
The interior retained a charming patina in areas but had heavy cracking and tears also. It was decided that the vast quantity of wood, of which much was already removed for paintwork, would be totally restored. The front and rear seats were retrimmed by our in-house trimmer and repadded as needed. During this time the rare factory green undercoat on the frames was carefully preserved and documented for future use. Jaguar used universal green paint to protect all areas that the eye could see. Many try to replicate this colour but we are now lucky to have a direct colour match from this MK2’s original components.
After final testing the car was fined tuned for optimum road performance on the rolling road. When road testing begun additional efforts were spent removing squeaks and rattles from the interior replacing or upgrading clips and fixings.
The result from the project is a fabulous driving and formidable Jaguar Mk2 that under the skin retains a vast amount of originality and patina. Not every classic requires a full restoration and the work on this Mk2 is a perfect middle ground realising the clients visions to enhance, yet preserve a rare classic.
