Home at last

Charles, - Thanks so much for all the info w/pix. Highly informative. To your point of driving the car in 90 degree heat, 1600 miles, maybe rain, looky lews, etc. Certainly towing and the wrap was best choice.

The heat of summer, when most of the shows are, is tough for driving even on moderate length trips, but 2 years ago I put AC in my 61 roadster and now I'm driving it to shows this season on 5-6-700 mile round trips. Also installed a 5 speed trans. Those two things are the BEST upgrades i've done in the 42 years I've owned the car. The revs lay way down on the highway and it's nice and cool inside, even with the not so sealed up, roadster top. If you want the maximum fun and comfort and you want to drive your car, I would suggest that these are the two things to do.

if someone else wanted to shrink wrap their car for trailering, we use at work some marine shrink wrap that would work well. Look for companies that sell products by a company call 'Dr. Shrink Wrap'. I found a website for some at http://www.foreandaftmarine.com/DRSHRINK.htm . I see boats going down the highway on trailers with this shrink wrap over the open decks. We use a 1500W hand held hair dryer to shrink it over open engine parts we need to machine small areas on, to save clean up time over having to flush and clean out metallic chips after the machining process. It will hold up to a little oil, but not a lot. Cost is like $100 for the shrink wrap piece that size, but it may be available cheaper elsewhere.
For a car, I would do like the earlier photos in this thread. Drive the car on top of the shrink wrap, put a cover on the car, fold up and tape the four sides and corners of the shrink wrap. Then, break out the hair dryers. Just don't forget and leave something in the car.

Hope that helps to understand the process. :)

Oh, and don't feel bad about Dad giving up the Jag. Here is his new toy!

Hope that helps. :)

And don't feel bad about Dad giving up the E. Here is his new toy!

Dan doing some last touch ups. After shrinking, he doubled checked all seams, corners, holes, etc. The tape he uses is also shrinkable. He cover any seams, overlaps, etc so that noting can get caught in the slip stream and tear. He also crawled under the car and shrank the underside. This really leaves the car in a cocoon like wrap. Very well protected.

Now we have the wrapping material pulled all around the car. Dan, the owner of the company, has taped parts that overlap (kinda like wrapping a package) and is almost ready for the final shrink.

The car cover is on and we are securing the rear before the wrapping starts.

Here the E is on the trailer and we are securing the front tie downs.

Here the E in on the trailer and we are securing the front tie downs.

Here is the wrap on the trailer with the front tire tie downs pulled through and ready for the car.

The cost to shrinkwrap was only $250. He used a very broad hand gun attached to a propane tank. It was trigger activated and was awesome. I had seen the process done before on a boat.

I found him by doing a google search for "shrinkwrap" and he, Dan's company, popped up and just happened to be in Omaha.

Driving -vs- trailering.....Although I love the Jag, it is NOT in my opinion a long distance driver, nor is it friendly in HOT weather. 1600 miles in 90 + degree heat - NO THANK YOU!So I never considered driving it back. Trailering was the only option and I wanted protection from road debris as well as curious "looky lews" peeking around the car and being tempted to "get inside". Also knowing the midwest is prone to thunder storms this time of the year I wanted protection form the elements as well. I also know from prior bad experience with a boat that just a car cover IS NOT the answer. It would get wipped around and really do some damage to the paint and probably be destroyed in the process. In the end I have NO regrets with the wrapping and would do it again in a heart beat.

Regarding the question about rain....the wrap would get wet, but not the car. It was totally wrapped; under, both sides, top, front and back. Also when finished the wrap has a feel and texture of a soft rubber ball, kinda like the big ones that young kids play with.

I'll tranfer some pics from my phone to my computer and post some of the process.

Bill,

Like Howard said, the car is very susceptible to sand blasting and rock chips. If you are ever around a car trailer take a look at the front of them. They are usually covered in rock chips. In some cases driving the car is safer then trailering it. When you drive it you can keep safe distances form other cars but when it sits on the trailer it basically like tailgating a large pick up or SUV for hundreds of miles.

When I picked up my fathers Jaguar I searched for an enclosed trailer for over a month but could not find access to one. I do have an open trailer but was worried just like everyone else. I also trailered ours down in winter as I wanted to spend some time with my father and car car before he got too sick to be able to. I took a lot of precautions in transporting this car on an open trailer from NY to NC. First I traded truck with my neighbor since his was lower to the ground and had smaller wheels hoping to cause less spit up. I also engineered a 2x4 and plywood front enclosure to block the entire front of the car. I built it an angle in the front and added top and side spoilers to create a wind pattern at speeds to blow around the rest of the car on the trailer. It was not the prettiest thing but it was very functional. We also wrapped sealed the engine compartment and wrapped and sealed the wire wheels.

Now the next step is the innovative part . We sprayed the entire car in "Liquid Mask" My best friend is a auto body painter and this is a produce they use. It is a soap based product they use to prevent over-spray. We used is as a protective shell. We sprayed 5 of 6 coats to create a 1/8-1/4 " think barrier. It is water based so you have to watch the weather and pray. If it rains hard enough it will wash some of it off. Next we drove back to NC in the middle of the night for lighter traffic conditions. Once we got back to NC we gave it a bath (2nd time car has ever seen a hose or water) and a wax and it was as good as the day it was restored.

Howard,

You can probable contact any boat yard in Wilmington regarding this wrap. I see it used all the time when transporting boats. Im sure they can point you in the right direction.

I would be very careful with any type of cover on a car on an open trailer. There is no way around scratches on your paint. Anything, no matter how tight, or soft you think something thing is... it will scratch you paint when wind is involved, especially 40-70mph on a trailer. Any kind of movement (wind) on a product toughing your paint will cause scratches. There is no way around it.

Only way I can see this working out with out a scratch is build a 2x4 square around the car on the trailer then shrink wrap that so you basically are making an enclosed trailer.

Howard, let me know if you have any questions. I hope all is well with you.

Charles,
Thanks for the info. May I ask you what was the cost for the service? Does he use a hair dryer to shrink or some special larger heating device? How did you find him, Google search, and or what did you search? Seems there might be a franchise type thing going on here? Asking a lot of questions, but I have trailered my car at times to shows and more than once encountered terrible road spray issues behind trailer trucks, like wet cement dust etc. Going to the show is most important, coming home not so. I have never covered the car on a trailer but if this shrink holds it very tightly down should be pretty good.

To Bill B's question, on a trailer the front body work and windshield is prone to a more severe sandblasting effect from grit thrown by the towing tires while sitting in this one place on the trailer. Obviously mud flaps on the tow vehicle help a lot, but I don't like going around with flaps on my Yukon Denali.

What are the risks on an open trailer, is it likely to be more prone to ??? than driving it. It seems to me the other way round with less chance of road hazards etc. What would happen to a wrapped car if it drove through a rainstorm?

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

Howard,

The process was pretty straight forward. The owner, Dan, first measured and cut a length of material off of his roll. We then opened it up and drapped it over the trailer. I then drove the car onto the trailer and put my soft car cover on. It is highly reccommened that the car be covered with something to help protect the paint. Then Dan wrapped the material around, over, under etc the car and began to heat it and shrink it. He was able to cut holes in the material so that the car could be tied down to the trailer. All of these holes were then wrapped up with tape later. When all done, the car was pretty much in a cocoon.

There was some very slight buffing on the leading edge of the roof when we got home, but very light and will easily rub out. If you, or anybody else for that matter, is going to transport a "special" car on an open trailer a great distance I would highly reccommend the shrinkwrapping. Worked great for me!

Charles,

Curious as to process for shrinkwrap, what was cost and did it not abrade the paint in any way? Obviously have seen this on cars from the factory on an open truck but didn't realize it could be purchased on the open market .

Your dad certainly gave you a beautiful present!

Congrats, she is beautiful.

And the interior.

Here she is uncovered.

That is not a factory colour!