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I just purchased a low miles (46k) 1991 Jaguar Sovereign. I’m a classic muscle car guy (1969 Camaro) but was intrigued by the opportunity to purchase this 1 owner car. It’s beautiful with immaculate paint and interior with only a console armrest cover crack and missing auto seatbelt button on driver side. I’ve read through many posts in this forum and already found helpful information. How can I go about getting some history on this car? When where manufactured? Build sheet? Replacement valet key? American muscle car garage mate. Original keys, no valet key. Console cover tear. Button missing from auto seatbelt buckle.
Cool car! Congrats, how much did you pay for that if you don’t mind me asking? My car 1991 as well has the same EXACT crack on the armrest.
If you open the drivers door there will be a VIN number and build date with color codes near the door latch on the body of the car. You can also try jaguar heritage certificate if you want to pay for one.
The seat belt button is probably something you'll have to find used. Search eBay for salvage yards breaking similar cars and send them a message asking if they have what you need.
Regarding the center console lid/arm rest, if you can find one in the right color from a '95-'97 X300, it will have cupholders, which is a handy feature given the limited storage in the car. The cupholder mechanisms are prone to break, so be sure to get one that is in good condition. Welsh Enterprises sells repair kits. If the leather color is slightly off it can be redyed.
Thanks Stran and Don. I appreciate the info you shared. All of my data sources to date have revolved around old American muscle cars. So I’m building up my reference sources for this new addition.
Stran, $7500 and it came with original dealer hand out goodies still in boxes with jaguar logo. The one owner is now 92 and going into an assisted living home. He had it maintained by jaguar and had all documentation, except build sheet and valet key.
Valet keys are just like regular Tibbe keys except that they don't have the final taper/groove at the tip, and of course the fact that they are green rather than black.
The cup holder armrest (which I wouldn't advise getting, they are useless) is also fitted to Vanden Plas XJ40's, at least mine has them. The mickey mouse cup-holder is a real PIA when it inevitably breaks as it won't stay closed.
Even with cups in them they are very unstable and god help you if you have to shift gears with a full mug of coffee in there!!
Lawrence, thanks for that input. While I’d love to have cup holders for periodic cruising, Im not a fan of self induced frustrations. I’ll look to replace with a “like” armrest Console cover.
Welcome to the world of Jaguars. I too recently purchased a 1990 Sovereign identical to yours in appearance aside from the wheels and with just slightly less mileage. Paid a similar amount for it. My center console was also separating and I simply removed the inner metal panel and used Weldwood contact cement to reattach the material after stretching it tight. It has held up quite well for the past 8 months.
The cup holder armrest (which I wouldn't advise getting, they are useless) is also fitted to Vanden Plas XJ40's, at least mine has them. The mickey mouse cup-holder is a real PIA when it inevitably breaks as it won't stay closed.
Even with cups in them they are very unstable and god help you if you have to shift gears with a full mug of coffee in there!!
I agree that they are not a great design, but they're better than nothing and I put one in my '88 XJ40 and was glad to have it. I got a good price on a broken one and repaired it.
Of course, Larry likes the large rectangular headlamps and I prefer the quad round headlamps. That's the joy of living in countries where we are free to choose.
Hi Landress, Have you located that button for your seatbelt? I may have one around in my stash, what color is that really?
Hi Jerry, thanks for asking. I do still need this button, and it is RED. But I think there maybe something else missing internally as well. This buckle is the “auto” seatbelt that connects to the door. Wife wife connected it when she drove it and now I cannot disconnect it. The red button itself is missing but I’ve found no way to disconnect it. I’ve pushed on everything that is visible and moves. I just don’t know how the internals work on this seatbelt buckle. Any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated and how can I go about purchasing the button or mechanism you have?
Hi Dave, I am sorry to have got your hopes up on having one of those belts. I didn't realize it was the attack shoulder belt. I looked at my 92 and it feels to me like that grey part inside the clip in your pic is one long bar and if you could get behind it with a dental pick and pull out rather than pushing in, it may release then- not a quick or easy solution I know. I suggest putting a want ad in for one of those belts or try your luck at a junkyard (personally that's my Happy Place but I know mine doesn't have one currently). Others have swapped out the attack belt system for the later 3 point set up which is my plan too. It just won't be happening very soon. Again sorry to mislead, good luck.
No problem Jerry. Thanks for the tip, I’ve been fixated on pushing, not even considering a pull might release the attack belt. I’ll give it a try. I’m interested in the 3 point belt retro fit. Do you have info on this? Thanks
I remember reading a thread recently about swapping the attack belts for the 3 point ones. It stated that the mount points- the threaded holes-for the 3 point belts are already there in the body behind the trim. I assume this is because the attack belts were not used in all markets. If you could find a 93 or 94 car to remove the parts from it would "simply" be a matter of swapping all the parts, including the b post trim and the front window trim. I think that also you would need to put a jumper in the controller to keep the dash light off. As I say, I have the parts- I got very lucky to get a whole car- and plan to do this. It may be a winter project for me. Try searching this area, I tried but searching the forum is a weak point of mine, I never have much luck. I tried "seatbelt conversion". You can also try searching other forums. Jag lovers, XJ40.com, Jaguar experience. I doubt that I have found them all.
Maybe someone could find a link for me......
Try searching this area, I tried but searching the forum is a weak point of mine, I never have much luck.
Jerry,
You're not the only one dissatisfied with the search functions. The standard Search function of this forum is essentially useless. A more frequently successful method is the Advanced Search function. Click on the Search button above, then click Advanced Search in the dropdown menu that appears. You can filter by keywords, username, date range, forum, etc. But you may find that duckduckgo, google, bing or another search engine is an even more effective way to search the Jaguar Forums. Just enter your search terms, then look for Jaguar Forums links in the resulting hits.
First time Jag owner questions.
