Restomod C-V8 on Retropower

[felixkk]

https://youtu.be/kb5KO1f2444

[John Staddon]

The guys at Retropower are being very optimistic and i don't think they have looked underneath yet! I saw this car on a ramp a year ago and it is very rusty, the side beams are crumbling to dust and the rear of the boot floor has almost disappeared.

What puzzles me is that the description of the work they intend to do at Retropower matches the description of the work that is being done to the restomod C-V8 that was mentioned in a post a week or so ago, the one where the engine was put up for sale and Joerg bought it, but they are not the same car. This is 2392 and until quite recently it was a 2 owners from new car, though it might be 4 owners or more now as it has changed hands a couple of times after being pulled from a barn, so it is a pity they are talking about fitting a corvette engine (the owner I met a year ago told me his plan was to keep the car as original as possible so either plans have changed or it has been sold on since then).

John

[nrb993]

Hi John,

Please what value in £ would you place on this cv8 today.

kind regards
Neil

[John Staddon]

Hi Neil

The value of this car could be a sensitive subject so I have emailed you.

John

[johnw]

It all sounds pretty horrific to me. Such a complete and original car! Absolutely ideal project for some genius metal fabricator. I couldn't watch the whole video.

[Grant]

It all sounds pretty horrific to me. Such a complete and original car! Absolutely ideal project for some genius metal fabricator. I couldn't watch the whole video.

Don't worry yourself John..It'll all be alright

[felixkk]

Detailed documentation on the disassembly on FB ("Project Connery"):

https://www.facebook.com/11220895735804 ... 860290090/

[felixkk]

Hi John,

Please what value in £ would you place on this cv8 today.

kind regards
Neil

It's probably worth more now than after Retropwer are done with it

[johnw]

Don't worry yourself John..It'll all be alright

I will stick my neck out Grant, I think I am pretty safe here, in saying that the previous owners bums knew and experienced more real, classic, period horse power than Retropower will. I wonder who's bums sat in these gorgeous seats:

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They have convicted themselves here Grant, EG stands for Entrants Guest if I am not mistaken, a 1981 Photo pass for the Horse of the Year showjumping competition, Wembley Arena, found in the glove box!

HorseOfTheYear.jpg (218.06 KiB) Viewed 5666 times

[johnw]

I would like to make another comment here. Nothing to do with Retropower. Purely about Jensen quality post war. If you look at Barker Coachbuilders, who worked for Mercedes and others, they built gorgeous, quality, light weight aluminium bodies in the early 30 with fantastic leather trim. They used full hides for each seat, each back. Other coachbuilders did in period. Pre war Jensen and other coachbuilders. Rolls Royce buy Barker, Royce dies, Barker bodies get heavier, they lose something. Jensen quality, accuracy, beauty, persists in the 541 and even into the CV8 exactly as seen above. Proper Jensen trimmers, totally authentic and original, even in the 60s.

[felixkk]

Latest episode of Retropower they mentioned that they were buying a new chassis from Ron Clay (with an Interceptor front end):

https://youtu.be/QWXy5xAdujM

[johnw]

Latest episode of Retropower they mentioned that they were buying a new chassis from Ron Clay (with an Interceptor front end):

https://youtu.be/QWXy5xAdujM

If you want to skip to the Jensen part which starts at 13:51 here is a link:
https://youtu.be/QWXy5xAdujM?t=831

[Eddie]

New update on the retropower C-V8

C-V8 bit starts at 19.16

https://youtu.be/JNQpB5BM_MQ

[Grant]

Nice one Ed ..Very interesting, I wish I had ended up doing this sort of thing for a living..but, having said that I believe that's when the hobby turns to a job and the fun goes out of it .I noticed they choose the inboard brake version of the IRS..that's a nightmare, JIA cars (and my conversion as I copied the JIA cars) uses the outboard brake set-up..much better for servicing purposes..I've got a feeling you have to drop the axle out to change the pads on the inboard brake design..I could be wrong though ..Very interesting though, I noticed they mentioned Ron Clay on there too.

[wheel-turner]

I found this car in 2014 in a somewhat knackered garage attached to a barn at a local stables when out walking with our rambling group. Being nosy I peered through the missing window on the garage door and couldn't believe what I was seeing. This rekindled my interest in all things Jensen having regretfully sold my 541S in 1988 due to a growing family etc.

I contacted the son of the owner and went to look at it with a view to buying and also met his father then (see the pass card in the earlier post). However after putting a hammer through one of the chassis members and gazing at where the boot floor used to be I realised that the restoration needed was way beyond my facilities and financially didn't make any sense bearing in mind sale prices current at the time. As has been mentioned it was a complete car with just 2 owners then. Obviously with 20/20 hindsight I should have bought it and sat on it but the management side would have thrown a wobbly! Just to make you all weep he was prepared to accept £5K at the time. The offside rear seat squab is upholstered in vinyl, apparently due to the original catching fire from the exhaust! I was told that it had gone round the clock and I think was indicating 104000 ish when I saw it.
I have attached a couple of pics I took at the time for the record. Note the display cases of riding trophies and certificates on the walls.

Cheers
Gavin

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