Preface question by apologizing to all expecting to see my just acquired beastie cartwheeling down some out of town racetrack . . .

Still at fact finding stage (I know I have time bombs ticking away somewhere) but I am confident we can fix Delanair aircon, and even . . . gosh, really . . . the auto retracting radio aerial. Tadaaah! All else works like a charm and the car is impeccable, but . . . there is always a but!

The car's original owner lashed out on new Connelly leather seats and loved the result so much, progressed to full retrim all the remainder . . . and that's where this question lies. Where I would have expected to see gleaming walnut veneer crash rolls at the level of the inner window sills (or at least wooden inlays), I have beautiful leather trim.

I realize mine is one of the earliest SeriesIIIs, but is that the original fitment? . . . a one piece door trim that, at the top and as evident in several of my pics, has no separate crash roll but itself rolls out to meet the glass? Or is this a SeriesII feature that mine retained at the crossover to SeriesIII? While all my research turns up thousands of pics of XJ6s, almost none feature the inner door treatment and most, but not all, feature wood. Moreover, the pics in the Service Manual are not specific and offer no warning to "use cloth to protect . . . " etc. So, here's my question . . . if I attach 3 outside pics of my new beastie, will you reply with just 1 of an inner door crash roll on your SeriesIII? Please?

Thanks in advance,

Ken

 

Good Lord, that is a NICE S3 Ken.

I dont have a S3 within striking distance or I would oblige in a flash.

Sons S3 was a 1985, and a Sov, and had what you thought you should have, if that makes sense.

Doug will see this eventually, and will certainly have input, and has a S3 that is being upgraded to a V12.

 

My impression was the Soverign and VDP get the contrasting crash rolls like the series 2. They look great with the wood insert too. I parted a few late XJ6's and they had the 1 piece door panels.

 

ICS is correct...only the upper-trim-level cars have the door trim with the black crash roll. In most cases you can spot an upper-level car very easily, even from a distance, by looking for the rear seat headrests....but that isn't carved in granite

Base level cars had a very plain trim panel, two piece for the early Series III cars and one piece later.

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page

For 1986-87 the base level cars had the same plain-Jane trim panel with a strip of wood added to doll things up a bit....as seen in the pics



Cheers
DD

 

*Very* pretty car, Ken!
I noticed 2 things right off that I Really like; the side mounted radio antenna and the flush mount gas caps like S2 cars.

I haven't seen such gas caps on Any S3, Ever! Most of them stick up about half an inch and look like they were either very poorly fitted or don't belong on the car.

But best of all, it's RED!! That's almost as good as BLACK!

It's great to have you back.
(';')

 

My 86 VDP has the wood (book matched -each side to the other) on the door panels and there are 2 strips of inlaid boxwood into the major wood "body" that is on the crash roll. Regarding the "book matched " feature,
most folks don't realize that the wood pattern (including the dash /fascia ) is a mirror image of the opposite side of the car.
If you look closely at the dash , for instance you will notice a center meeting line in the wood veneer in the middle of the dash -each side being a mirror of the other side made from consecutive pages of veneer as they were made. Specific to the VDP models with burled dashes / door wood.

 

not quite sure what we are talking about!

but my panels have these wood door inserts.

 

Not the same interior door panel as mine I have S 111 86 VDP sorry for confusion.

 

Thanks to all of you for input,

WOW! As I suspected, my '79 SeriesIII is somewhat a "crossover" car - starting life as a base model that the first owner has thrown money at - but stopping short of upgrading to veneered inserts on door panels. Below is a pic of our '78 SeriesII Daimler VDP for comparison with the mix of images offered thus far. Sorry about quality of my dusty ole 35mm slide, but you get the idea of contrasting black crash roll and walnut insert that ICS and Doug refer to . . .

Thanks Grant and Elinor. Yep, local car . . . owner re-locating . . . so jaw-drop price quickly negotiated. Thanks Ics and Doug for your knowledge and resources and insight into contrasting crash rolls. Hey Alyn, no sweat, and I do appreciate your input - BTW, that's a VERY nice pic. Finally to Ron, the crash roll is the top 2"-3" of door trim, rolling over towards window glass and, as pics show, may be . . .

• an integral part of a 1piece door trim, with or without chrome strip;
• a separate part of a 2piece door trim, with or without chrome strip;
• separate contrasting crash roll with timber veneer insert - mark of prestige models like VDP.

I wonder where I might find some of the latter?
Do I really need them . . . or even want them?
Hmmmm?

Cheers,

Ken

 

Hi Ken,
Early S3's style and content of woodwork was unaltered from late S2's.(Wood cappings only on VDP's).
From 1981 model year wood cappings where added to Daimler and then Jag Sovereigns from MY 1984.
From MY 1985 all cars fitted with wood cappings regardless on model.
I have posted pics of my 85 VDP.
Hope all this helps.
Cheers,
Nigel

 

Whoops, car must have been hanging off the roof when I took the shot..Sorry

 

I'm sure you can find some eventually. Finding some in good shape (not water damaged) is the challenge.

IMO they're a nice upgrade.

However, on my base-level '85 I discovered that merely adding the chrome speaker rings does wonders for the appearance of the plain trim panels. I was surprised at what a big difference can be made by such a small change.

FWIW I also added the polished sill plates, chrome seat adjuster handles, recessed-gauge dashboard, rear headrests, and rear reading lights.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Elinor,

The high gas caps are a result of unleaded fuel (gas).

All US delivered S3's had to conform to stricter emission rules and so were unleaded from the start and so raised caps.

Rest of world S3's only changed to unleaded in 1986, right at the end of S3 production.

In fact with most rest of world S3's you can spot a late model immediately by said raised gas caps.

The reason for the raised caps??

Back when leaded was being phased out, if you inadvertently filled up with leaded in an unleaded car, the engine would run OK (Not getting into a debate about hardened valve seats here :-) ) BUT you would destroy the catalytic converters with the leaded product in the process.

To avoid this problem, the nozzle on the unleaded gas pump hose was made smaller as well as the corresponding narrower throat of the fuel filler on your unleaded car.

Leaded cars and leaded gas pump nozzles were larger diameter, so you could fill a leaded car with unleaded, but not the other way around as the unleaded gas filler on your unleaded car was too narrow to accept the wider leaded gas pump nozzle.

Coming back to the raised gas cap, the change in diameter of the fuel filler meant a change of hardware under the gas cap. The actual assembly was such that to get it to fit in the same spot without sheet metal changes, meant the easy fix was to raise the cap.

As the S3 was right at the end of its' production run, it was deemed too expensive and unnecessary to re tool the body work to make the gas caps sit flush like the unleaded cars.

Cheers,
Nigel

PS As for hardened valve seats, XK engines have (aluminium) aluminum heads and so require and have hardened valve seats anyway. You only need to address this if you stress the engine with high mileage, regular towing or racing.

 

WELL SAID Nigel.

And on a Sunday morning with Saturdays hangover still messing with the brain cells, top stuff indeed.

 

Naa, it's just because you're at the bottom of the world.

Isn't Everything upside down Down Under?
(';')

 

Hi Grant,

Yeah, I almost had to draw a flow chart to keep on track for that one!

Cheers,

Nigel

 

Thanks Elinor,

Either that or I was in the Bat Cave...

Batteries to Power, Turbines to Speed...

Cheers,

Nigel

 

Thanks for feedback again, Doug . . . but perhaps a likely source has just appeared. Now that local guru Nigel has rolled his car upside down (crash roll of the hurty kind), I might be persuaded to take his off his hands? (just kiddin'). Otherwise, I need to muster the locals here in Oz to start searching.

But gosh, HUGE thanks to Nigel for all that info. I can certainly attest to how quickly wife Chris could transform a week's pay into 2 full tanks of fuel for the Daimler VDP after the 70s oil crisis. I also remember that here, during the 80s, they were just about giving away any second hand V12 Jags. I did hear that at one stage, Grant had no less than a baker's dozen of the huge beasties! I also hear that these days, he's reduced to a nervous twitch at their departure!

Cheers to all,

Ken

 

Ken, I knew it wouldn't be long before you were lurking in our play room chasing something for the SIII.
Try these two Qld sources, both have a decent stock of XJ series parts and don't show up in initial searches like the well known suppliers for some reason.

AJG Spares | New and Used Car Parts for Jeep, Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover models

http://www.truelocal.com.au/business...spares/windsor

 

Hi Ken,

I have sourced bits from Gary Ayre at Jag1 in Clayton and from Phil at Jag Prestige in Ringwood.

Both of these people have all sorts of bits, trim, etc. and routinely part out cars.

If they don't currently have, they probably will soon.

I have never had any problems in my dealings with either of them and they have always been very helpful and obliging.

I don't know if we are allowed to post business details up here, so pm me and I can give you their numbers.

Cheers,

Nigel