Can someone please tell me which panels on my front seats are not leather?

 

Just had a big discussion over the same thing on the X type forum.

I can only speak of my particular car, but my XJS was bought new by my grandfather and never had any alterations done before he gave to to me. I tried to rehabilitate the original seats and redye them, but they where hard and seemed not to be leather, so I eventually had new seats made in 100% leather. When the original seat covers came out, I flipped them over, AND THE ONLY PART THAT WAS REAL LEATHER WAS THE INTEGRAL HEADREST AND THE MAP-POCKET. No other part of the face or otherwise was real leather. All synthetic ambla.

Other AJ16 may have had different trims, but that's my car

 

Wow, that is strange. I read on the forum that only the outer panel(s) are not leather. I just forgot if it is the top and/or bottom panel and whether it is the door side or non-door side panels.
I wish that I could have owned/driven a brand new 95 xjs! Your grandfather was a lucky man.

 

Seems a massive change from the earlier cars, where the question can be "what's not leather". Disappointing considering the price point in the 90's..

Off-topic: The best smelling Jag interior IMO (when new) is a tie between a S3 XJ6 and an 88-91ish XJ40. Same basic materials in the XJS of the 80's vintage, but park both in the sun for the afternoon, and the smells differ.

Sounds dumb, but I have literally been looking for a uber low mileage '88 XJ40 for that very reason, but alas, 30 years of wet and God knows what else has robbed me of my dream (smell).. ;-) HA!

Cheers,

Jeff

 

usually the seat facings were leather ,

however , literally anything could be up spec'd by the new owner to be leather , even a ' double stitched ' option to show it was leather

my own 89 XJS has all double stitched leather seat facings , headrests and rear seats, double stitched arm rest , double stitched console , and double stitched door pull handles and pockets ,

the door cards are ambla , along with some kick panels etc

but as I said above, every and any jaguar car at purchase can be different to meet customer requests

BB

 

Over 20+ yeas of XJS production there were lots of changes, year-to-year and market-to-market.

My '88 USA-spec coupe had a true 'full leather interior'. The seats were 100% leather and the console, door cards, rear sear and red side panels....all full leather as well.

My Ser III XJ6 and my XJR have hardly any at all by comparison: only the seat facings are leather.

Cheers
DD

 

Based on the discussion we had on the X type forum, a guy who has been judging Jaguars at concours for a very long time said that as far as he knows Jaguar never uses synthetics on the seats of any car, and while that may true for the great majority of cars, it was not true for my XJS, and there are other folks around the forum who have found the same thing on their seats. So while it may be an anomaly, it it possible to have seat faces that are synthetic. I know of at least another AJ16 95 XJS owner who has real leather on the entire seat, but the trim is exactly as my car according to the window stickers, which we both have.

And then of course you have the V12 cars trimmed in Autolux Connolly all over with ruched leather and piping. Although my seats have been retrimmed in 100 percent leather very recently, I found some of those new old stock V12 Connolly Autolux seat skins which are going in my car soon, and now I am looking at V12 door cards, so my car interior will be V12 specification once I am done.


Incidentally, don't be afraid to call Jaguar Customer Relations North America.... A kind girl will answer the phone and tell you all you want to know about your car when you give her your vin number.

 

Jaguar used Ambla seat facings as far back as the mid 60's on the Mark II, 340, etc, I believe the JCNA Concour judging guide even says as much. I also know of a very low mileage '87 XJ6 (competely original, sub-7K mile car) that was ordered with a non-leather Ambla style interior.

UPDATE:
http://www.jcna.com/library/tech/mark2.pdf

Page 16 to be exact on the Ambla transfer. And just so you know Mark, you're in the right, and this is comng from the owner a few national show winning E Types and other kitties.. ;-)

As you said, anything is possible, and could be ordered, but there was a time it was standard offering, with leather being an up-charged option (on certain models).

I'm suprised that your car (bought new) was delivered to the dealer like without a special order tag (unless I misread your first post and it was), with my guess being that someone ordered it that way, backed out and the car ended up at the dealer in normal stock to sell.

Cheers,

Jeff

 

The front seats in my 86 are leather as is the console but I seriously think the back seat is vinyl.

 

Full leather. Still smells great every time you open the door.