Two years ago, my friend and neighbor found this lovely '84 VDP near us. One owner, 39k, 2 inch thick mountain of maintenance receipts - just a fantastic looking and driving car. I joined jaguar forums and posted about it here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...984-xj6-44166/

Needless to say, I was pretty jealous. I had gone with her to look at it, and then again to pick it up, and told her if she ever sold it, to give me first refusal. At that time I had no experience with Jags, but fell in love, so I found a low mileage XK8 that I've enjoyed - until yesterday.

5 weeks ago, she drives up and tells me that she's going to sell it. So, as much as I loved the XK8, up for sale it went. It just sold yesterday morning, and 20 minutes later, I was the proud owner of my own Series III. I can't really find anything that doesn't work yet. The aerial and speed control seem a bit temperamental, and I think the A/C compressor may not be coming on, but it starts, shifts and drives like I think it should. Already spent 6 hours with the vacuum, leather conditioner, polish, etc. and am having a blast. It even has all 3 (I originally thought there were 4) of the VDP 'throw rugs' - the big furry floor mats. Off for a little cruise this afternoon. The PO only put 1500 miles on the car in 2 years. It needs a bit of exercise before I attempt the dreaded CA smog test. Thanks for all the good info on here too!!

 

holy crap! I love the color, congratulations! looks in excellent condition, that's one classic Jaguar alright. 1984 was a very good year for Jaguar, they produced very good quality cars thanks to their revamped quality control.

 

Looks like it's in really great condition - congrats!!!

 

Well done! That's a real beauty :-). The old Ser IIIs are really great cars.

I could just throttle whoever made the decision to put those side mouldings on, though.



Cheers
DD

 

Thanks everyone. Doug, those moldings must have been put on when the car was new or very nearly. They've got their own patina. I remember selling that type when I worked in an auto body supply store back then. I kind of like them actually...

 

those are US Market moldings, all XJ had them from 1980-on thereabouts. Dealers installed them when cars were received. The cars look "empty" without them.

 

Sorry, Jose, but this is outright wrong. These mouldings were very popular in that era but "All" XJs most certainly did NOT have them. In fact, far more didn't have them than did.

Dealer installed, yes, in most cases....but purely aftermarket. Nothing to do with Jaguar per se, not routinely installed when dealers rec'd the cars.

Some dealers installed them, some didn't.

Cheers
DD

 

Sorry Doug but you are wrong, those were Jaguar Cars USA-supplied kits that were shipped to Dealers accross the USA for all Series 3 XJ. You don't have to believe it, instead do as I did, talk to people who worked at Jaguar dealers in the 1980's.

That they might be an aftermarket type of molding has no bearing on the fact. Maybe Jaguar Cars USA got a wholesale deal with the manufacturer. Every USA Series 3 XJ I've ever seen for the last 23 years has the same style moldings and those that don't were either removed by the owner during a respray, or the first buyer could have ordered the car without the moldings. Otherwise it was a standard Dealer Prep accessory.

 

I submit that the breadth of your experience isn't wide enough



Certainly many that were installed over the years were removed

However, there are far, far too many Ser IIIs out there without these mouldings to support your assertion that "All XJs had them......" or even "most" of them had them.

Speaking in absolutes ----all, none, always, never--- as you tend to do usually brings disagreement.

Cheers
DD

 

sorry again but in the case of these moldings, it is like an absolute, like I said, it was a Jaguar Cars USA Prep Trim, or "US Specs".

 

Hi, just to add to the POT, I have an 84 VDP exact same colours or should I say colors (Canadian version with the V12) and it doesn't have the mouldings! P.S. mine doesn't have the leaper (yet) another potential deep discussion. David, yours looks great and that is what matters, and costmetically much cleaner looking than mine but it sounds like you are as excited as I was (getting that car without knowing much about it) Congrats and enjoy.. P.S. my wife even commented on what a nice smooth ride it is.

 

if you look inside the door panels of your XJ-12 it might have the rivet holes covered over with bondo or lead, assuming the car was repainted. The Series 3 XJ-6/12 (Canada or USA) never came with a leaper.

BTW: I like the moldings myself, my '84 has the same exact moldings except in black; Without them, the XJ looks "unfinished", so I should add that Jaguar Cars USA (the Jaguar distributor) had a very good idea.

 

Yup;

One of the lessons from Dr. Roth's class at UTEP that stuck with me. "The categorical statement is false upon it's face"!!!

My 83 shows no signs of ever having those side mouldings. I'll admit, I've never pulled a door panel to see if there is any evidence of filling of holes. OTH, my czr seems to be wearing it's original coat of Grosvenor brown. Any paint mathing would hsve showed up by now.

The things are functional in protection vs park lot door dings. But, in my opinion, both are awful!! Somewhat in conflict with a view thst function is beauty???

I did consider another Jaguar at one time. A decent enough XJ40. But, it's doors were really chipped. Probably spent a lot of time in SF parking garages.

At the behest of a client, I investigated a claim as to who was dinging the ladies doors in their shared park lot of the SF town homes. Insured denied it. I arranged for the cars to be parked side by side. Both parties agreed to let me do my thing un molested and unkibitzed. Opened and close doors, examined chips with a strong magnifying glass, measured and recorded with cameras. The glass made me think of the inimitable Holmes. Niether of the cars,both very nice ones, had side mouldings.
Insured did it, no ? in my mind after perusing my data. Client instructed, "work out a deal" ? I did. Gee after decades, I was investigating a park lot accident!!!

All in all, I prefer no mouldings.

Carl

 

just for fun, I went to eBay and checked out the first page of the Series 3 XJ for sale:

5 out of 7 have the same identical moldings. (not just "moldings", but THE SAME type of moldings, the only variant is the color of the vinyl strip inserted into the aluminum extrusion). The ones without the moldings, look re-painted, moldings removed.

Jaguar : Other xj6 in Jaguar | eBay Motors

Jaguar : XJ XJ6 | eBay

Jaguar : XJ6 Base Sedan 4-Door in Jaguar | eBay Motors

Jaguar : XJ6 Base Sedan 4-Door in Jaguar | eBay Motors

Jaguar : XJ6 Base Sedan 4-Door in Jaguar | eBay Motors

 

There' s no doubt that LOTS of Ser IIIs had those mouldings installed. Very common and popular. Ask *anyone* who worked at any USA car dealer in the 80s and I'm confident they'll tell you that this exact type moulding was installed on tens of thousands of cars....Jags, Buicks, Fords, whatever.

I can remember the installation company sending a crew down to our dealership once a week to do 30-40 cars at a time.

However, "lots of" and "tens of thousands" is not the same as "all".

I remain very reluctant to accept that Jaguar USA supplied aftermarket mouldings fo ALL USA Ser III cars....which would be, what? 50,000 or so cars? I, for one, never seen any documentation of this. I would have to think that if Jaguar did something or provided something for tens of thousands of cars there would be *some* printed evidence of it.....and such paperwork would've risen to the surface many years ago.

Anyhow, my curiposity has certainly been piqued and I'll start looking for some evidence that Jaguar USA supplied these mouldings for any or all Ser IIIs.

Cheers
DD

 

What a firestorm over moldings! It will be interesting to see which assertion is correct. Like I said, I'm pleased with the way they look.

 

the curious fact {for all to see} is that the same / identical type of molding was used in Series 3 XJ across the US, and that is no coincidence. (the only difference being the vinyl insert color); BTW: I got my info. from mechanics who used to work at the Jaguar dealer at the time my car was sold to the first owner.

contrasting issue with the Tool Kits that USA dealers either included with the cars or gave away as a Gift to customers spending $42k for a 1980's XJ. My car came with one when I bought it from the first owner. But very few Series 3 XJ cars have them.

not that it will change the history of Jaguar or the human race, but it's trivia worth digging into.

 

Which is certainly compelling but IMHO doesn't represent proof that Jaguar USA itself actually provided these mouldings for 50,000 or so cars as a mandated "USA Specification Kit" as you assert.

Having spent 30+ years at new car dealerships I can say with certainty that not every mechanic or employee has all the answers and knows all the facts, all the time :-). They are as subject to mis-information, urban legend, poor memory, biased thinking, etc etc as anyone else!

Often dealer employees think that whatever is happening at their dealer or within their sales/distribution zone must be happening everywhere else. Not true, of course.

JCNA and Jaguar USA archivists have found paperwork and documents regarding as few as 35 cars so I remain confident that if Jaguar USA mandated *anything* for tens of thousands of cars we can find documentation of it! I'm working on that right now :-)

Cheers
DD