You did an amazing job,that car is gorgeous. What engine is in there? As much as I love red convertibles I wish the owner had gone for a little more chrome trim, just to break things up.
Thanks! That is a Jag 5.3 V12 from a '78 XJ-S. It was kicked back into the stone age and forced to wear a set of 4 Stromberg 97s to look more period. It still has the Lucas ignition system. In the future I think I would set up this engine with the Electromotive XDI electronic ignition and forget trying to set the ignition timing with the distributor tucked down between the manifolds. We could have put a flathead Caddy 346 in there and it would have been historically correct for the World Fair car that was seized by US customs. After it was sold the owner yanked out the incomplete V12 Delahaye block and put the Caddy 346 in it. Since then it has been restored with its original block and the engine was completed. That's the way it sits in Mullins' museum. BTW... thanks to some help here on HAMB we were able to duplicate the paint color of the original. The chrome trim would be nice. We'll build yours just the way you want it.
Well, it starts easy and idles smoothly, but I have not had the opportunity to actually take it out on the road other than pulling it out of the shop for pictures. I used a Uni-syn to balance the the carbs. I eliminated the vacuum advance because it was inverse (port vacuum) and there are no ports on the Strombergs. When I build out the next Jag V12 (sitting in an XJ12 in the yard right now) I will use the Edelbrock 94s instead of rebuilt antique carbs -- lots of problems with leaks due to thread wear. Also, when I do it again I'd like to go distributorless and use a trio of manifolds with three carbs and try to make it look more like the Delahaye V12 intake.
This seems to be a popular idea. Here's a couple of shots of a torpedo bodied cabriolet that was at Retromobile this year. Unfortunately there was no info about the car. This should be the steering wheel for the 165 that you just built: http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/502/ Now I'm just going to go back and enjoy the pics you posted, again.
Thanks for the link! Our client sent us this steering wheel. Because all of our builds are commissioned we finish the cars according to the clients personal tastes and budget. The Geo Ham style is just beautiful. I actually prefer it to the 165 -- it is a little more masculine.
Both of the cars we have right now supposedly had original bodies. When we got them they were in various stages of "restoration", but some of the work looked like reproduction. We received both cars disassembled, so we are unable to verify how original the body parts are. The "original" body work from the 1936 has been reclaimed by the car's owner, and I believe he is planning on selling it (supposedly it is a Chapron carbiolet). We have bits and pieces from the 1938 that we are referencing, but I'm not sure what will happen with those parts. Right now we are making a complete ash body frame for the 1936 (the 1938 ash frame is complete). The 1938 is on hold and for sale; the 1936 is being built for a client in Zurich.
Hey, Serious cool, there! I think, over time, your client will regret the use of the Lucus distributor given their track record when subjected to heat & road use. Geo Hamm suied Figoni over the use of his designs for which he was not payed. " Do not reach greedily for the Kool-Aid "
I rebuilt the distributor (which was siezed in advance), and I hope it won't happen again because there is more air flow around it with the current configuration. The real pain was removing all of the 13 wires and the cap just just loosen or tighten the 3 hex screws that hold it down. It was a trick to do this without bumping the timing in the process. Like I said, next time I'll use the XDI system.
Incredible craftsmanship. I envy you guys (in a good way) One thing I don't get about this body design (the closed front fenders): how are wheels turning there? Is turn angle much lower than normal (resulting in much larger turn radius)? Is there a special turning mechanism, different from that of regular cars? Is there simply more space inside the fenders than it might seem looking from outside?
Yes. The front is quite wide. The front suspension and steering was taken from a Jaguar XJ-40, and it has the same steering (stop to stop) as the Jag.
Not to hi-jack (as if) I visited your web site and became somewhat obsessed with the design and details on the Tojeiro chassis (let alone his cars). Could you provide some background? Is it an original or a replica? Or start another thread about it some time? Gary http://www.coachsmithing.com/tojeiro
Gary, From what I've been told... the Tojeiro frame (and De Dion tube axle) were originally built by John Tojeiro and never finished as a car. I believe our client has a letter from John Tojeiro regarding the frame. We were commissioned to finish the car as "an American version." We switched it to left-hand drive and are powering it with a Chevy 292 (301 -- long block built out by Mike Kirby at Sissel). Here is a thread on that car with more recent pictures than on the web: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/original-unbuilt-john-tojeiro-frame-project.783997/page-3 You can also get more current information on our Facebook page ("Coachsmithing"). We are working hard to have it finished by July 18th per the customer's request. If not, then it will debut at Monterey, CA (Laguna Seca) later this summer for a HMSA race.
I remember the day I first met a Delahaye. That was also the day I met Chip Foose. I'll never forget either.
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