Hello all,

A question I have had for a while now is which parts of my '87 Series III interior are vinyl and which are leather. I have also wondered the same thing about my '91 XJ-S. I seem to recall from somewhere that the XJ-S was distinct from the XJ6, at least the base XJ6, in having an all leather interior. However, I am confident that the door cards on my XJ-S are vinyl. I also seem to recall the front seats in the base Series III being leather, but mine are of indeterminate material. It's almost as though some of the seat is leather and some is vinyl. Mine isn't a Vanden Plas/Daimler, which I guess would have more leather inside. I would appreciate information on the materials used for the XJ6 and XJ-S interiors.

 

Your Series 3 is a very late model so may vary from the 1980 S3 I owned. Jaguar usually only used leather in seat facings, (the wearing surfaces), and matching colour vinyl elsewhere. Certainly on my car that was the case and also on my Mark 2 as well. Door trims are all vinyl, as is the centre console, and the black dash top. In the UK, the Daimler-badged cars had a lot more leather in them, and cost a lot more to buy, but I think the door panels were still vinyl, although I may be wrong on this. Up to the mid-80s Jaguar used Connolly Bros "Vaumol" leather which was claimed as waterproof when it first was introduced well before WW2. After the mid-80s Connolly changed the process to be part-water based. I have actually watched ladies sewing the leather seat covers at Browns Lane !
I can't answer you on your XJ-S, but as a 1991, the leather will be of a the later process.

 

On the base XJ6 leather only on the seat facings as Fraser says.

My observation is that the later base XJ6 cars sometimes used leather from the bottom of the heap, often lightly embossed to presumably hide imperfections. It might be mistaken for vinyl. And many of these cars are old enough to have been reupholstered....in vinyl. I've seen a few.

The situation on XJSs is more complicated with many variances from year to year and market to market. My '88 US market car truly had a 'full leather interior'. The entire seats, door trims, quarter trims, console, cubby lid.

The Vaumol leather, I think, was used thru the 50s-60s and perhaps into late 70s ? I believe the tanning process became either impractical or illegal, or maybe a bit of both. This was the leather that had the particularly pungent aroma.

Cheers
DD

 

Hello, in my 1984 XJ-6 only the back "face" and the seat "face" were leather, same for the rear seat. The Headrests are leather. Everything else, the seat shoulders, sides, the backs, the center console, (except the Lid), the door coverings, and door handles, are vinyl, also known as "Ambla". Same identical treatment in my 1965 S type. I think Jaguar had a "formula" for interiors since the 1960's.
The center console Lid is leather, The rear center console extension is in Ambla.

 

Well, that would explain my confusion on the XJ6 front. The leather is really not of the quality I would expect, and it was easy to mistake it for vinyl. After a few weeks of leather treatment, it eventually became decent. I'm not sure if the bolsters are leather. It is difficult to tell, but I think the whole front of the seat is leather. The entire headrest definitely seems like vinyl. Oh well, it fools anyone under 30, most of whom have never seen vinyl in a car.

As for the XJ-S, the front seats are questionable, the center armrest is probably vinyl, the side armrest is debatable, and the backseats oddly enough look like the highest quality leather in the car. It's a shame nobody fits back there, as I always though the rear seats of the XJ-S were very attractively styled and finished.

Hate to say it, but my '69 Lincoln Continental Mark III had better leather and, frankly, more pleasing vinyl. Certainly not the hide quality that RR had at the time, but that's to be expected. It's probably better than German offerings of the era. The XJ6 interior is supremely comfortable don't get me wrong, but I wonder if there are cost effective ways of sprucing it up. Maybe XJ40 interior pieces?

 

If you want to upgrade your xj6 interior, the easiest and most model-appropriate way is to use pieces from the Vanden Plas xj6 models (or if you have access, from the Canadian V12 VDP cars). These VDP interiors are almost entirely leather: every part of the seats (front, sides and back, and the headrests), the door armrests and map pockets, the centre armrests. In some model years even the covering of the C panels (with the reading lights) were leather; the seats were covered in very smooth Connolly Autolux leather.

 

I'm very tempted, but the current interior is in such good and original condition I can't bring myself to alter it. I also thought about finding a Series I with a bad engine and dropping a Series III 4.2 into it, mainly for the fuel economy. I plan to do a lot of touring with my XJ6 in far off lands, and a carbed XK engine would just be too thirsty.

 

This is from a 1976 xj12. I wondered why they were so nice and cleaned up good with lacquer thinner… they are 100% vinyl. My other xj12 1977 has leather match (only touching surfaces are leather) and it’s cracked pretty bad. The pinkish color is sun fading..
Not sure what to use now. Worn out cracked leather or nice vinyl…. You can’t tell by looking it’s so good. (Pros can).
Something about leather. But really only if well taken care of over the past 45 years…
the worn out seat is the leather one. You can see the sides being vinyl..

 

I got rid of all my leather!!

 

I found a complete set of XJ-6 seats redone in Biscuit-color leatherette vinyl with new foams and bought them. Got tired of the original leather cracking, torn stitches, and flattened foams.

Whoever did them, did a wonderful job. I even got another riser for the passenger side seat.

 

Even my mint 1977 Daimler V12 has not so great leather. It’s ok looking but feels paper thin compared to my 65 Lincoln and ready to crack. It’s quite fragile. Probably because of the lack of conditioning over the years. I have been using Bick LP and 4 every 6 months. But I doubt they’ll get great. Nice to smell and look at but for a daily driver I doubt they’ll last long. I preserved the Daimler and if I drive it often I’ll take the driver seat out and put in a worn out leather or vinyl seat in…

 

Jeff, that vinyl seat has obviously been recovered, not factory.

 

Ok, I’ll stick to original materials then. Now I am stuck with a set of seats. Probably destined for the trash. The springs underneath are rusted gone.. and the foam is powder…