Just joined from Vancouver Island BC Canada. Hope to find some interesting facts about my 1989 XJS V12 convertible. First Jaguar I've owned.
When I was considering purchasing it, I googled pictures and found the steering wheel and shift lever on mine were unlike the pictures. Mine has a round Jaguar wood shift knob and a wood insert on the steering wheel with Jaguar TWR embossed on it. The pictures on google have a T-shaped shift lever and what looks like a padded or leather centred steering wheel.

 

Welcome to the forum REFSTUFF,

I've moved your question from Intro to XJS forum. Members here with the same model will be able to help.

Graham

 

REFSTUFF,

It sounds like it's been changed by a previous owner as TWR weren't doing any XJS enhancements by 1989. Have you got any pics that you can share with us?

Paul

 

Here are pictures of the steering wheel and shift lever knob on my 1989 XJS v12 convertible,

 

VIN might help....


more pictures.... please...
XJR-S

From 1988, a special XJR-S version of the V12 5.3-litre car was produced by JaguarSport, a separate company owned 50:50 by Jaguar and TWR. This car had a distinctive body kit, special alloy wheels and suspension and handling improvements. The first 100 of these cars were termed "Celebration Le Mans" to commemorate Jaguar's 1988 win at Le Mans and only sold in the UK. Between 1988 and 1989 a total of 326 XJR-S cars were produced with the 5.3-litre engine. After September 1989 the change was made to a special 6.0-litre engine with a Zytec engine management system. This was different from the standard 6.0-litre engine used in the late XJS models. The XJR-S stayed in the line until 1993; a total of 787 coupes and 50 convertible cars were built for the world market. In the United States, to commemorate the spectacular XJ220 launch, a limited number of 100 XJRS coupes and convertibles were produced for the American market only. These included 22 Signal Red coupes, 22 Signal Red convertibles, 22 Jet Black coupes, 27 Jet Black convertibles, 2 Flamenco Red coupes, and the Silver Frost 'Press Cars' of 4 coupes and 1 convertible.

 

that PAD is an air bag


yours is Missing....

 

It's not missing. It was never there. I'm pretty sure that the airbag was not fitted until the 1990 model year.

Mark

 

the steering wheel is a genuine item , though could have been retrofitted by a PO any time isn the cars history , and is not an airbag.

the gear knob is however not a genuine jaguar item , the shape is all wrong ,

however,

the fact your shifter stick has a threaded top is significant, as all other XJS's had the toggle top selector, and only jaguarsport/TWR cars received the threaded selector

my steering wheel and selector knob from my January 1989 car ( UK ) , but has a different centre section with no inlay ( just a ' sport ' section )

IMG_2993 by MyPix on Talk Photography


a correct selector knob ( in wood ) for a 1989 car , however, most were colour coded leather covered of a similar design

833 by MyPix on Talk Photography

any new owner could cherry pick any or all of the ' enhanced ' options at time of ordering, a simple body kit to full engine enhancements , to a sunroof or simply a rear spoiler, the choice was yours, so this doesn't make any ( or your ) car wrong, just personal specification at the time of purchase

but as i said above, these items are easily swapped or added in a few minutes by anyone

got any more pics of the car

BB

 

By toggle top selector, do you mean the "t" shaped shifter? My 1991 has the threaded shift lever, with a roundish leather covered knob that seems to match the seats. I've been thinking about replacing the knob as it is pretty worn. No indication as far as I can tell that it is any kind of jaguarsport/TWR model though. I did always wonder about that as almost all other XJS's I've seen seem to have the "t" shifter.

Thanks, Eric

 

If I am correct, many/most of the '90-91 cars were "Collection Classic's". They came with colored piping on the seats and screw-on leather shift knobs.

Mark

 

Yes, my car does have a badge on the right rear, in place of the "v12" badge, that says "Classic Collection". Also the contrasting piping on the seats, though it's pretty understated, I hadn't really thought of it as unusual till it was mentioned here. Are there any other known differences in the "Classic Collection" cars?

Anyhow, another mystery solved!

Thanks, Eric

 

As far as I know, the Collection Classic package was all cosmetic. There were no changes to the engine or suspension.

The package included;

1. Colored Piping on Seats
2. Leather, color matched shift knob
3. Upgraded wheels (my '90 has chrome lattice wheels)
4. I believe a different type of wood was used for the dash and doors but I'm not 100% certain.
5. Gold colored Growler badge on the hood/bonnet.
6. "Collection Classic" badge in place of the standard "V12" Badge

BTW...I have always called it a "Collection Classic" because the word "Collection" is above the word "Classic" on the badge...


An argument could be made that the word "Classic" is in a larger font so the correct name would be "Classic Collection". Anyone know which term Jaguar used?

Mark

 

That wheel and knob look just fine. I could live with them easily.


Although, I did swap[ out the black plastic knob in my base XJ wuza six to an after market wood version.


Ooops, it has a V8 badge under the XJ^ badge on the rear boot lid!!!


Carl

 

Craig. I don't think you will have an issue getting collector plates with that wheel and knob. If you do you can borrow mine and have it rechecked if needed. Then we can swap back after inspection.

 

Brake buster, nice Alpine. Looks right at home.