Series 3 Vanden Plas interior question
 

Hi and Merry Christmas to everyone here ! I've recently returned to being an exotic car owner after a 15 year absence. I settled on a 1985 XJ6 VP "runs and drives great" special on FB marketplace after losing out on a REALLY nice 1987 on the copart auction site ( hit my 4 k broker / bid limit, now it's on Ebay for 14k ). Unfortunately mine turned out to have alot more issues than disclosed but to be fair the seller had gotten stuck with the car and didn't know anything about jags. Neither did the re painters / mechanics who had worked on it either ! I'm going to make a more detailed thread later about taming my feral cat but have an interior trim out question for the experts here.
On the late series 3 Vanden Plas interiors is there a factory standard on the door panels ( two tone, mirror switch location ), and the type finish for the shift / switch console ( vinyl / wood veneer ) ? I'm wondering if some of mine's parts have been swapped ( fit just isn't right ). I know I have ALOT of work ahead but I already knew that from my previous XJ ( had rebuilt engine, suspension bushes and all fluid seals on my old 1985 base, still kick my self for letting it go !! )

Thanks for any help
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Brian
PS Happy Boxing Day for everyone in Oz & UK !

Hi,
what exactly is wrong with the fit of the center console switch panel?
I think they were all the same panels except for interior colors reserved for the VP, and the base XJ-6 had black vinyl over the console panel instead of a wood laminate.

as to the finish, do you mean the clear finish over the wood?

This is going from memory, so others with better knowledge may chime in. I believe all Series III VDP models (or at least as early at 82) had the two tone door panels with an upper rectangle area around the wood trim being black. And the VDP models had the mirror controls on the mid door panel near the speaker rather than on the upper panel due to presence of the wood trim on the upper panel. The VDP woluld have burlwood rather than regular grain wood trim.

I believe the base XJ6 transitioned from black plastic to wood trim around the shifter and window switches starting with the 1986 model year. I'm not sure when the VDP models first had that feature.

Thanks for the replies. My door panels are ( interior = AEE ) Doeskin with Black uppers & the mirror controls near speaker per what I understood to be the VP standard. I wanted to double check since I have seen some pictures online of cars with possibly swapped panels, a base with two tone and I think a supposed VP with single tone / high mirror controls. I am thinking the shift / switch panel on my VP has been swapped since it's covered in black plastic instead of wood veneer as well as not fitting the right tunnel trim panel correctly. If the two styles are exactly the same shape anyway then the misalignment is due to the wonderful person/s who misaligned the rest of the car and knotted up the side marker wiring, plus the window switches were in the wrong locations as well as other evidence of rooting around under the console. If you check out my intro post I go into even more of the mucked up thinks I've found so far ( fender leapers jumping to rear of car !! ) It's still a feral cat but I'll get her cleaned up and nursed back to health !
Thanks for all the info so far,
Brian

the 5 window and sunroof switches are all the same,

what controls which window each switch opens and closes, is the block connectors behind each switch and that is easy to fix or reorganize.

Remove the console Lid and Tray, this will give you access to the rear of the switches.
pull each block connector from behind each switch and connect them to any switch you want.
Only one block connector controls the sunroof, 4 block connectors control the windows,

Thanks Jose, I already reconnected them for the correct layout as well as swapping in two spares I had already dissembled / cleaned trying to fix the really sluggish windows. They all still barely go up or down. The battery is good, and I have the real Jag wiring book so this weekend I'm going to open up all the doors ( some of the door handles are binding anyway, also no power locks either joy ! ) clean / lube everything then test the motors directly and keep working my way though the electrical system until they all work at normal speed ( I also have two doors with guts from a junkyard VP as spares if needed ). I think right now it's either the glass tracks / window regulators gunked up or something damaged in the center console wiring / bad grounds. I absolutely love the factory wiring book, would be a nightmare to troubleshoot otherwise. That's what I used to find the fuses hidden in the trunk while fixing all the other side marker problems, socket corrosion, crap wire splices etc.

Thanks again
Brian

Hey Brian...
Your car sounds awesome, and it's lucky to have a new owner who's concerned about originality...
The VDP interior changed significantly in the period from 82-87.. So looking at a lot of photos online will give you a lot of different results.
Your 85 will have different door cards than the 82 would have, but they'll be the same as an 87... The vinyl/leather used on the door cards changed in color and texture throughout the run too...
The mirror switch location by the speaker is correct...
The black trim around the coin tray is correct for your 85, but by 87 a brown color ~ maybe Magnolia ~ was an option...
I "could" be wrong, but I don't think the wooden ski slope was an option before the 86 model year. I think even the VDP had the black vinyl covered ski slope in 85, but the standard and VDP models had the wooden one by 86.
It sounds like your car has maintained it's originality through the years... But I'll be glad to help track down any info that you need... I'm in NC as well....
Cheers
David
shop.EverydayXJ.com

yes and not to mention some owners had the black vinyl removed from the console panel and veneered with wood, then lacquered or nitrocellulosed it..

British Autowood does this regularly.

Brian:

Welcome aboard. Sounds like a very nice car in need of relatively simple corrective measures that you seem to well along on.

Yeah, I've been on the "under the ski slope" cavity more than once. I have a basic tool list to work there.

Two pans.
A Pozi driver
A flat blade driver.

Many little pies to keep track f,esecialy if the seitches are opened to clean
Beware of fitting the cover over the wheel on the fascia that trims red and blue ,

The windows do not travel as fast as on newer cars.. But, some advise silicon for the guides.


My car is a base model. But, I added wood knobs on the shift lever, early on.

Carl.
C

Thanks everyone,
After looking at the parts PDF's ( thanks Jose, also like you site / tips / mods ! ) I was thinking it might have had the two part version show ( vinyl / wood ), but nice to know that is only for the later ones instead. I actually like the black vinyl better than the veneer anyway, the wood version just looks too "busy". I'll get it sorted out his weekend hopefully as long as the PO's didn't butcher the wiring too badly. Really nice to have access to all the info online / forums like this now. Back when I had my first one, I had to make do with just a Haynes manual and going by the independent Jag shops in Charlotte as often as I dared ( they were all really nice but I didn't want to wear out my welcome ). The car does have some rust issues I'll be addressing but I think it's worth saving, plus I always liked working on my jag since it was actually designed to be worked on and fixed ( most new stuff seems to be designed to break and be thrown away after X number of years ).

Dave, I'm just west of Charlotte, so I'm sure to be visiting you sometime this spring ( if not sooner ) for some larger parts once I start digging into the body & structural issues ( inside front fender "wing valence panels" need replacing due to rust for sure ). I've already raided one at the CLT pull-a-part ( now scrapped ) even before I bought this one -- got my jack and lug wrench before I even knew I needed it !

Thanks again,
Brian

Brian...
Looking forward to meeting you... I'm just North of Concord, so we're practically neighbors... LOL
If you're looking around Charlotte for really good shops, don't miss V12 Motorsports in Indian Trail. Really good group of guys there....
Cheers
David
shop.EverydayXJ.com

Yes.

One of the distinguishing features of a 1987 VDP is that the coin tray trim matched the interior....and Magnolia was the most common VDP interior color. In other markets this feature was incorporated in the upper-level cars a bit earlier on, I think.

Base level cars continued with black trim around the coin tray


Correct.

Prior to 1986 model year (USA model year, specifically) all cars had the black vinyl ski slope. Beginning with 1986 model year all cars, base and VDP, had a wood veneer ski slope, with VDPs having a more pronounced burl to match the dashboard.

Rambling a bit....

The base level 1986-87 cars got door trim panels with a wood insert in the upper area although the design was clearly different than the VDP/upper line version. Other features found on the 1986-87 cars, even base level cars, were the polished sill plates, chrome seat adjuster bars, chrome speaker rings, and chrome door latch plates.

Another feature of the VDP/upper level cars was the recessed dashboard instruments. And carpeted kick panels in the footwells. And extended center console.

I think the USA-spec 1987 VDPs also got the rear headrests....but I'm not clear on that.

Cheers
DD

Hi all,

Happy New Year.

From what I can gather with rest of world VDP's;

The leather is of a higher grade (Autolux) than Sovereign & XJ6 specs.
Bar the black vinyl door cappings, EVERY other surface is leather.
The wood on said door capppings have matchwood inlays.
The rear seats are individually sculptured.
The centre dash console was always colour matched.
Rear seats had head rests.
Door cards always had two parts with mirror controls on lower deck

AS Doug says, wood ski slopes were universally used from 86 on.
Dash is burled walnut on VDP's
Instruments are countersunk (flush with dash wood) on VDP's

For rest of world, the VDP was a hamburger with the lot. There were no cost option extras.
The only (no extra cost, just a request) 'option' was a stainless steel swage line above an optional painted coachline.
There were no factory demonstrators, nor press VDP's. Rest of world VDP's were built strictly to order.

Cheers,

Nigel