I have a 1961 Mark II 3.8 with a Borg Warner 3 band Automatic transmission that is in need of restoration. It has been sitting in the driveway since I bought my fixer-upper house 16 years ago, and I am finally owning up to the fact that I am never going to get around to it. I was using it as my daily transportion car until the transmission quite. I had taken the transmission apart once before, and it worked for about 30,000 miles after that. The main thing that is unusual about the car is that it has a ragtop sunroof, that I have never seen before. Does this make the car anything special, or just another restoration project for someone? It needs major work. The paint is peeling, the sunroof is split through, the veneer is peeling up on the dashboard. I think I could get the engine to run, but I am not sure how much that matters. Does anyone have an idea what this car might be worth?

Thanks,

Dave Gustavson, Los Angeles

Submitted by jam@ispwest.com on Fri, 03/25/2005 - 21:32

those are WEBASTO sunroofs, they were popular back then. Personally, I don't care for them because I drove an S type with one of those and the fabric tends to react during heavy wind, "flopping" if you will. I have heard that they leak water as well as the seals age and deteriorate. Restoring one of those means re-manufacturing it, as in "send to to someone in England", unless you can find a specialist here, and either way its going to be a very expensive job. I'm sure someone would buy it to restore it, as for myself I prefer to start out with a car that does not need restoration, the MK-2 is expensive to restore, the wood alone is $5 grand. A friend has spent $45 grand restoring his and he is still not satisfied with the results. What is it worth? whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Try selling it in Hemmings, you won't get much at eBay, not to mention it's automatic and everybody wants the standard 4-speed with overdrive. There's a fellow called Doc (www.docsjags.com) he buys them and restores them and resells, them but be prepared for a dissapointing offer.
Good luck.