2010-01-19 13:46:42 | Dirk Schnapp writes:

The name of the first owner was J.M. Ballantyne.

The car is not registered in Swansea, therefore I need information about history until 1972.

2010-01-27 10:30:31 | Lofty writes:

In 1988 the steering was altered to LHD

2010-01-28 05:10:15 | Peter Ingram writes:

It says original engine. The number could be G 8610-8 built Aug/Sept 1956 somewhat later

2010-01-29 09:06:21 | terry mcgrath writes:

C.8610 FF if the actual part number cast into vertical face of the block not the actual engine number stamped into the horizontal section

2014-06-07 13:46:02 | Jeremy B writes:

VKM 333 was my first XK. It was owned by a removal man called Brian who filled up at the service station where I was a pump attendant. Its exhaust valves were shot and it ran on about 4½ cylinders. It was nice and shiny, though.

I used to admire it nonetheless, and eventually paid him £55 for it at the very end of 1967, rebuilding the engine rather inexpertly - but at least it now had six cylinders.

Alas, the shine was only skin deep, for underneath it was rather a tired old thing. I recall taking out a young woman whom I seriously wanted to impress and chucked the car around a right-hand bend. The passenger door flew open and she only avoided falling out because I grabbed her. However, I did have to leg it on foot back up the road to retrieve her handbag. This was our last date.

I lent the car to a pal who overdid it in the wet (Michelin Xs made this quite an easy thing to do) and clouted one of those green electric junction boxes. I see it still has no front bumper!

Having bought 670503, I sold VKM as a non-runner to another chap who became a friend. We bought a 3.8 Mk 9 engine from a scrapyard and fitted that. It was now quite fast. It had strange double-calliper discs at he front and still only drums at the back, but this was OK for road use.

When I sold this new friend 660363 for £35 (excuse me whilst I sob a little) he sold VKM on.

Let me see, I have a few photos of it somewhere.

2014-06-13 13:27:57 | Jeremy B writes:

Oh yes.

When the pal who pranged it had finished repairing it (loads of filler and minus the front bumper which was scrapped), he drove to show me at the forecourt where I was serving petrol. This journey was less than one mile, but on the way he crashed into a Hillman Hunter, wrecking the nearside front wing good & proper.

What can I say?

2014-06-14 06:43:01 | Peter Ingram writes:

Dirk: Can you give us the proper engine number ?

2015-02-26 13:21:17 | Dirk Schnapp writes:

@Jeremy B.
Thank you very much for the nice pictures and the interesting history details about VKM 333. After a long time, I visited this website on Feb. 15th again because that was the day, I bought this car 28 years ago (in 1987), and was excited to find the new information. I'm still busy with the restoration - good things just need their time. In September 2003 a transmission failure happened that was fixed again two years later but the car still isn't ready to go. This July is its 60. anniversary and I plan to go for a ride then.

@Peter Ingram
The number shown is referring to the engine block. The cylinder head is not original but from an Mk and has the number N2001-7.
VKM 333 was imported to Germany in 1985 on March, 26th in a very bad condition and almost fully exploited. The rusty body consisted mainly of polyester, painted with a brush in violet color. Prior to the import, the previous owner had arranged for the engine to be repaired and for the transmission to be renewed. He also bought some spare parts in order to rebuild the car himself, but he eventually gave it up and sold everything to a retailer from whom I bought it on Feb. 2nd 1987 for the amount of 5.500 DM.

2015-11-12 22:16:29 | Steve S writes:

I bought VKM333 around 1980 for £175 (sigh) from a builder who had it sitting out in the open with no hood, how long for I don't know. It was in a bad state . As Jeremy B stated it had a MK9 engine and 2 Dunlop calipers fitted to each front wheel. I particularly remember the bridge pipes for the calipers had been made up by welding bits of old brake pipes together (scary!)

The body was so rusty we removed it in 2 halves with very little metal cutting required. The engine was seized. Nothing salvageable from the interior as it had stood in the rain for so long. I decided to do a ground up restoration and so I set about finding all the bits to get the car back to original. I managed to source some parts such as drum brakes for the front & I fitted a low mileage MK7 engine 7:1 compression ratio as it was the nearest thing to the original I could find. It sounds like it still has it. I fitted an original single system exhaust , new bearings in the gearbox , new ball joints, spring bushes etc. In the end I got married and needed the money. I made the big mistake of keeping the wife & selling the XK. I'm delighted to see that it's back on the road and looking good.