On the hunt for the chrome ring speaker grills for my 1985 XJ6 VDP. Putting in chrome gauge bezels and thought the chrome grills that were used on the later cars would be a nice touch.

In my searches over the last few days it is proving to be harder than I hoped to locate. Question - would anyone know if other years or models would be the same size and could be adapted to fit? I want it to look as original as possible but have to believe some fabrication to mount grills would be fairly doable as long as they were the right size.

For instance - lots of grills that look good are on eBay for the 95-96-97 XJ6 and the 98 up XJ8 for pretty reasonable. Are they the same size? Anyone try this? Saw some early E-Type one that were chrome rings and chrome grills, a little too much bling, and they wanted $135 for 2!!

 

Think i have a set floating around. Will look when i get home.
Cannot tell where you are from mobile app, so my response may be pointless

 

Thanks - I am in Southern Cal. Prob can't get much further!

David over at Everydayxj.com got back to me and he has a set for a good price. I will just go that way.

 

Although you've already found some it might help others to know that the chrome rings were part of the 1986 Series III interior upgrade....so just look for a 1986 or later Series III.

Cheers
DD

 

Thats my understanding as well (1986 and up) but in searching online and on eBay I am finding that these are not very common. I live in an area of the country where salvage yards are rarer than hens teeth so I have to find everything online, local auto parts or in some rare instances my local dealer.

Dave at everydayxj.com had a set but even there I had to contact him and wait for a reply, if you go to his online store you will not find them. He is definitely the best source I have found for parts for my 1985.

However, if he did not have them, a very common find online is speaker grilles (or all parts really) for the X305 and X308 XJs. IMO tons of these cars are being parted out and the internet is pretty much awash with cheap parts. Anytime within a car's lifespan it gets to the point that more cars are being parted out than there are people restoring / buying parts stuff gets cheap fast.

I also have a 2006 Super V8 and I can absolutely say that right now if are looking for good, cosmetically clean parts for a X350/X358 they are significantly more expensive than their 305/308 cousins, as there are lots more people looking for good parts than there are cars being parted out. Current XJs (X351s) there isnot much going on at all in the used parts market in but I think thats due to not many people looking for used parts as well as not very many cars being parted out. Yet. Wait 5 more years and see.

Hence my interest in if x305/308 grills could be adapted and used in a SIII Xj6. There is definitely a buyers market on used parts for these cars.

 

I swapped mine out years ago. Had shipping issues so ended.up with two sets, i did tons of subtle upgrades back when.i was.on the concours circuit, but the chrome speaker rings and.the wood fillets on the door cards really dress up the inside!!

 

The XJS used the same grill, but they had to bend the studs slightly for some reason.. So any late 80s XJS will have the same grilles...
Usually when I'm buying XJ6s for parts, I like to get either 80-82 or 86-87 models, just for the little different quirky things they offered..
Cheers
David