I'm planning on getting back into the Jaguar ownership world, and one of the cars I am looking at is a 1985 XJ-SC. The unusual thing is that it has rear seats.

The owner says they are factory, but I have never heard of this model having them.

There is a tag on the seats saying they are limited to children under 12.

Are these factory, or a retrofit?

Thanks.

 

sfdoddsy,

The car didn't come out of the factory with those seats in it. Jaguar hadn't got the Cabriolet type-approved for rear seats at the time. AFAIK There was only one cab built with rear seats. Naturally, many cars have had rear seats subsequently fitted. I don't know if the ones in that car are Coupe or early 2+2 Conv seats that have been retrofitted, or an aftermarket brand (more likely).

Hope that helps

Paul

 

Thanks, that is what I thought. I think they are third party retrofits based on similar ones in a retro-fitted convertible on Classic Cars Driven.

Whether I'll be able to safely attach a child booster seat is the next ponder.

 

When my daughter as very young, I had a full child seat in the back of my convertible for her. As she got older, I moved to having just a booster seat for her. She travelled 000s of miles in the back of my car.

Cheers

Paul

 

Lady Diana's XJ-SC was delivered with back seats. I sold mine because it did not have backseats for my kids. *selfslap* I should have kept it. Amazing car.

 

Thanks Paul.

Any issues with legroom? My son is a tall 5.

 

Not in terms of height to floor. But you could be kind to him and move passenger seat forward a touch as the distance to seat is quite tight.!

As he gets much older, he'll work out that sitting sideways in the back is more comfortable! My daughter travelled through France aged 16 quite comfortably like that!

Paul

 

my xjsc has them. Im pretty sure they are factory, or probably an optional extra from factory. They look pretty much the same as yours. You cant fit big people without sitting sideways but I fit in the front so thats ok by me

 

As mentioned, it's quite easy to convert, but they didn't come out of the factory even as an option. The XJS-C was type approved as a 2-seater car.

Paul

 

I have some rear seats for sale if anyone's interested

 

ill ask on the xjs soft tops site. im sure they will know if it was factory or not. just for information

 

leo,

The Lady Diana car is the only one that came out of the factory with rear seats. Probably, because it was still owned by Jaguar and could perhaps be classified as a development car. AFAIK, no customer cars could be supplied with rear seats from the factory. If you get a Jaguar Heritage certificate for the car, it will indicate any optional extras fitted.

As I said, it's a relatively easy retrofit which is why so many cars have them fitted. interestingly, in recent years, as the values of XJS have significantly increased, there seems to be more of a trend for current owners to want to convert back to the original storage box for originality purposes.

Paul

 

just got some info back from the int cabriolet register and they said that indeed dianas car was factory but many of the others were a dealer option using coupe seats or whatever they could obtain so this would explain the many variations in rear seat designs.
i will be keeping mine as they are a useful "grandchild" option