Last bit of wood to get out of the car is the center piece of the newspaper rail. It's free but the two twist knobs for the floor vent controls are not. I seem to recall it was really easy when I did the 3.4 decades ago but It's been too many years. Any body able to tell me the trick to free this last bit of wood?

It's going off to California for reveneering

 

Got it! Had to pull the Bowden cables from the louvers down below.

 

the knobs themselves are "releaseable", for example if they need to be rechromed. I managed to remove two from the cables to use them in my XJ-6 in place of the plastic ones that Jaguar used in the 1980's. (identical knob design but in black plastic).

the trick is to grab the cable and turn the knobs anti-clockwise.

here's a pic of 1964 S type vent knobs used in a 1984 XJ-6 for the cigar lighter and rheostat-dimmer.
also seen in picture is a 1967 E-type revolving ashtray mounted to the XJ panel.

 

Thanx Jose! that's along the lines of my dusty memory. When I got the dash piece off I was pretty sure I didn't do it that way last time.