Hi all and a happy new year.
Been tinkering with the Jag toady replacing a damaged N/S rear bumper rubber corner trim with a S/H one I found on eBay. I noticed a couple of plates under the rear bumper and also one of these matched a tag I also found in the car. Pictures below. I assume that one of these is the body number. Thoughts please.
Rob.

 

I think that the longer tab is the body number put on by Pressed Steel Fisher before delivery to Jaguar. The Silvery one looks like it was atached after painting, so by Jaguar.

 

Thanks Greg. Its all very interesting finding stuff on these old cars. I rebuilt and old series 3 Land Rover and found the factory build sheet tucked underneath the dash.
Rob.

 

Rob,

On the XJS, there are 2 "body numbers" as you've found. These two body numbers are fixed to the under-rear-bumper area on two separate metal tags. (And I'm hugely impressed at the astonishingly original condition of yours, right down to the cardboard number tag!!)

1. The first one is a Jaguar "traditional" body number. This was the in-factory production sequence number, that was attached to every major part produced for a particular car during final assembly.
I know the prefixes for the different model types for facelift cars. But I don't know them for pre-facelift cars. From your pic, it would therefore seem that the prefix for 2-seater V12 convertible is 5J (4.0 facelift convertible is 7K)

2. The second number is what may be referred to as "BMC" (British Motor Corporation) body number, as it is in line with the Austin-Morris body numbering system that dates back to the early seventies. Those numbers consist of many details of importance to the body plant, that were meant to differ them from "other" BL (British Leyland) products. Jaguar was actually still using these numbers in 1995. (I have such a tag on my June 94-built XJS).

The XJS prefix is 2JB27D. On facelift cars this was followed by LF (2+2) or LX (Coupe). From your tag, it seems this didn't happen on pre-facelift cars. Then there is a six-digit sequential number, then an L. The six-digit number is probably a sequential body build number.


Hope that helps

Paul

 

Cheers Paul for the awesome explanation. I noticed these tags when I first got the car but didn’t think much about them until yesterday when I pulled the bumper chromes off to replace the rubber.
Rob.