So here's my first mystery. If you look at the pic of the car in my post, there's a small, rectangular "flap" protruding up through the roof opening. When the roof pieces are on the car, it simply hangs down into the cabinet loosely, and actually blocks the rearview mirror. When the roof is off, there is a small pin that it locks onto when you push it upward. There is a release handle on the flap that appears to have been intended to release the tops, but it is totally non-functional as it is now. It literally does nothing. The car has 2-piece Targa tops, with a chrome release lever on each, recessed into the top.

Anybody understand this?

Thanks!!!

 

So....I found a posting on another site that says it is a "Wind Deflector." I'm not clear if it is a standard and common item on Cabriolet's, or if it was optional. Seems to be mixed opinions on whether it works or not.

More mysteries to come, I'm sure!

 

Taken from “You & Your Jaguar XJS” by Nigel Thorley. A good book to pick up

 

LOL...thanks for the response! I guess rare is good, as odd as it seems....

 

Thanks!!

 

There was a story about how these came to be. Apparently they were test driving the XJ6 Series III and an engineer held up a pack of cigarettes and found it to reduce wind noise. You’ll see a flap like this on all XJ6 sunroofs... but it’s much smaller.

 

Nice car. this only seems to be for sunroof models only, not convertibles.

 

the cabriolet came before the convertibles when there was a fear of the US banning converts. If you lift the bootlid "trunk for you colonials" you will find a number in the guttering. This is the body number. You can go on xjs-soft-tops.com, join up for free, register the number and they may be able to tell a little about the history of your car

 

Just to mess up the language issue even more, I'll add. Another term for bood lid, trunk lid is "DECK LID"!!

Indeed, we did suffer a period of convertible angst. We seem to have recovered.

I did not realize the Jaguar cabrolet involved "T" tops.

I stopped opening the sun roof on my XJ wuzza 6. Head liner issues ensue!!
.
Whatever the top configuration, that is a beauty !!!!!

Carl

 

FYI, Leo, this fear was why no convertible version of the XJS was contemplated at the design stage. My understanding is that by the time the XJS-Cabriolet was launched, it was so launched as a stop-gap to a full convertible because Jaguar were desperate for some sort of open topped car, but had not got the resources to offer a full convertible as fast as they needed to. The cabriolet version required no serious re-engineering to the shell, as the stiffness produced by the roof on the coupe was largely compensated for by the roof bar arrangement on the Cabriolet.

 

Thanks for the info everyone. Much appreciated.