These are photographs of Bruce Baysinger's (habsysco@worldnet.att.net) XK150 FHC ill fitting boot (that's a trunk for Americans). Bruce is looking for some advice on how to fix the problem, if we find a solution we'll post it here for all to share. Bruce's comments and a response from Wray Schelin are at the bottom.

It appears this is a common problem on later XK150's when Jaguar switched to spring loaded boot hinges that applied constant pressure to the boot.

I don't know what value the pictures will have, other that to verify what seems to be a common problem. I noticed that the sheathing still conforms to the shape of the wood. so it seems that the wood has warped over time with the aid of constant spring tension. I may just have to learn to love it.

Resoponse from Wray Schelin

Thanks for sending the pictures. It looks like the boot lid is high on the foward edge. I believe if you remove the boot lid hinge panel facia cover you will be able to adjust the hinges downward. This should close up the excessive gap adjacent to the fuel filler lid, but it will not completely remedy it, because it does indeed look like the lid has been pressure bent over time. To completely remedy it paint work and leading would have to enter the equation. After you have readjusted to the optimal location ( this might require some filing of the hinge mount bolts) you can take some clay and build up the tonneau panel edge to see what the results would look like if you tried to match the new "age bent boodlid profile". If the amount of clay is very small and the lines look right , then you might want to take this route to correct the problem. It would entail leading the tonneau edge and repainting the tonneau area. Of coarse the problem could be remedied by replacing the bootlid with another that doesn't have excessive bend , or rebuilding yours. Good luck, keep us informed with post surgery or massaging pictures if possible.
Look foward to see if anyone else has a real clever solution that I completely overlooked. Maybe there's a dentist on the list that can devise an inexpensive set of bootlid braces.

Published on XK-Lovers - Feb 12th 1999
Modified - Feb 21st 1999