Real purists will only wrench on their vintage Jags with … authentic Jaguar reproduction wrenches.
If you’re anything like us, you absolutely refuse to work on your high-dollar classic with anything other than the tools originally supplied by the manufacturer. In fact, we’ve got a low-mile Jaguar E-Type languishing in the back corner of our shed simply because the car’s tool roll went missing a few decades ago and we refuse to use non-Jaguar feeler gauges to set the spark plug gap.
But help is on the way! Jaguar Classic, the British automaker’s vintage car restoration and parts supply wing, is putting E-Type Series 1 and 2 tool rolls (sorry, Series 3 owners) back into production for the first time in nearly half a century.
The Jaguar Classic E-Type toolkit contains everything you need to do routine maintenance on a Series 1 or Series 2 car.
It all rolls up into this leatherette and canvas case.
We challenge E-Type owners to buy this toolkit and use no other tools to perform maintenance on their cars. It’s the period-correct thing to do!
Sure, you can cobble together a bunch of garage sale tools that will do the job, but they won’t have the correct Jaguar branding (or a warranty).
Per Jaguar, the kits include:
• Adjustable spanner
• Tire valve key
• Pliers
• Tire pressure gauge
• Points screwdriver
• Feeler gauge
• Three-piece screwdriver
• Spanner 3/4 x 7/8 AF
• Spanner 9/16 x 5/8 AF
• Spanner 1/2 x 7/16 AF
• Spanner 11/32 x 3/8 AF
• Box spanner 7/16 x 1/2
• Box spanner 9/16 x 5/8
• Box spanner 3/4 x 7/8
• Sparking plug spanner
• Tommy bars (one short, one long)
• Valve timing gauge
• Grease gun
• Handbrake adjusting wrench
• Brake bleed tin and tube
It’s all wrapped in a heavy-duty leatherette/canvas tool roll. Where these tools are manufactured is unclear, but Jaguar says all components of the kit have been “tested to Jaguar Classic’s rigorous production standards.” In any case, the whole thing comes with a warranty, which is more than can be said about the motley assortment of wrenches we have rattling around in our trunks.
The cost for all of this? A mere $945. That’s big bucks if you’re making do with junkyard tool kits, but a pittance if you’ve already got E-Type money.
Plus, Jaguar points out that its reproduction is more affordable than an authentic original kit. The automaker claims complete, original toolkits can go for as much as $6,455. That amount seems a little optimistic, but a quick online search reveals that lightly used kits with some reproduction components nevertheless sell for a substantial premium over the repop. As always with old cars, it’s all relative. And even if you have an original, you might be more willing to use the tools in a reproduction kit than a perfectly preserved vintage example.
Jaguar isn’t the first automaker to get into the reproduction tool kit business—Porsche offers tool rolls for the 356 and vintage 911 for an oddly specific $516.13, a comparable bargain—and you can bet it won’t be the last. Automakers simply can’t, or won’t, ignore the money aftermarket suppliers have been making supplying the collector car market, with even Mazda getting in on the game with reproduction parts for early Miatas. And if you’re a purist, it’s hard to get more original than replacement parts (or tool rolls) supplied by the original manufacturer.
Head to the Jaguar Land Rover Classic site to check out the tool roll, plus a range of parts spanning infotainment upgrades to Range Rover sheetmetal.
Here’s a guided tour of the E-Type toolkit.
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