You may have better results contacting Berberry, since it was not factory Jaguar. They may have used an outside contractor to convert the cars, but they could tell you more.

 

Quoted by Keith
I'll back you up on that Keith, But I don't know if my size 13 foot will fit in my mouth. A little bit too Scottish for me, but the seat inserts look pretty good. I'll agree with Keith, get the Cashemere cover.

 

Too Scottish?
Is that even possible?

 

I would LOVE to have this car!! I think there'd be a lot of interest if this car was for sale in USA.
I think the designer cars are really cool and quite rare! I remember the Lincoln Mk7 Versace edition. That was before he was uber famous. I just say one sell for 12,000.00. When a regular one sells for 1500.00 or so.
I bet this xk8 would sell for at least 5000.00 more here in the states in the right location.

 

Kind of interesting. Unfortunately, I get a flashback to my 1980 TR7 with plaid seat inserts and door panels! If you got a premium for it you would need to find the right buyer.

 

Oh man, I had no idea about this edition- proper British coolness! Congrats on that find... what are the odds? You've got something special it sounds like. And those miles!

I second the fitted luggage and picnic basket... get cracking.

Haha!

 

UH, HELLO!!!! Right buyer here!! Lol
I'd prefer it in the new black Burberry plaid on my black car!!
Maybe I can buy a rain coat and have some custom work done!!

 

How interesting to read about the very car that I worked on.
The car was built at Brown's Lane Jaguar site Coventry (no longer there) in the SVO department (special vehicle operations). Burberry were opening a new shop on Oxford Street, London and wanted to display a car in the window with Burberry interior trim. We did all the interior, Burberry supplied the materials, and I did all the sewing. I really enjoyed the project and its a pleasure to be able to throw some light on its history. No other XK8 was done as far as I know.
Sandra

 

Welcome to the forum Sandra,

How amazing to have the person who actually worked on the "Burberry" car responding to the thread!

This is the photo of the red RHD1999 convertible appearing in Nigel Thorley's book which has been mentioned in earlier posts:



parker98 has a green LHD 2001 convertible:



Clearly an authentic "Burberry" from the special tread plates.

Did you work on this early red or later green car in SVO?

Graham

 

This is still my favorite XK8 of all time!! Still would take it black with the trim but its stunning. It must have been so fun to work there during the time high end car manufacturers had a special department for truly custom editions.
I actually bought a vintage huge Louis Vuitton suite bag with plenty of the coated canvas to do some details, even seat inserts but just don't have the nerve!! (I know, me not have the nerve!)

 

I prefer to wear my Burberry, not sit on it. My 2 cents.

 

You did a beautiful job on the interior. A couple of people who examined it thought that it had been done at the factory. Like I said in a previous post the driver's seat has some wear. I have tried to find material to have it fixed, but I have not been successful. Do you know how long the Jaguar was in Burberry's window? Again thank you for the information it is greatly appreciated.

 

To each his/her own, I suppose. But damn, that interior is hideous to my eyes....

 

Burberry is as classically British as jaguar and the two coming together in a special edition car is amazing. Many fashion houses over the years have designed limited run, usually expensive, models for auto companies, versace for Chrysler and Lamborghini, givenchy for lincoln, Kenneth Cole for Mini Cooper, victoria beckam for range rover, Gucci for fiat, and many others. The fact that burbury designed a jaguar is really awesome and should frankly be in the jaguar heritage museum.
Yes, they're a bit out there but as a leading, iconic brand,I'd expect nothing less from Burberry. That being said, the green is better IMO. Black would have been the best!!

 

Whether you like the choice of Burberry material or not is purely a matter of personal taste and there is bound to be polar opinions on this.

However, the skill with which it has been executed is admirable and of the highest standard. Many would be hard pressed to achieve this result.

Graham

 

I totally agree! But I think it's actually kind of funny as well. When I think of Great Britain, I think of jaguar, plaid, and here they are together!! Actually very Balmoral!!

 

Graham,

Just to clarify, I'm not questioning the skill of the upholstery team. I'm sure this was indeed a well-paying one-off project and those folks were simply doing their job. Kudos to them....

But to me, the visual result is horrible. I don't care if it's Burberry, Gucci, Versace, or Mr. Burt of Encino....

 

Originally I started looking for XK8 convertible in British Racing Green and Cashmere interior. Found a few but they were in poor shape. I was going to the St. Petersburg Fl Gran Prix and I stopped at a car lot that deals in unusual autos and saw the XK8 with Burberry interior. I thought that was unusual to have two Iconic brands in one car. Also it had 20" BBS champagne wheels. When I ran the Carfax it validated the 18,000 on the speedometer and it also showed that for the first two years from manufacture it had almost no miles. I purchased it and had the timing chain tensioners changed. I knew there was a story behind it and I tried to find out what it was.

 

Thank you,
As for the length of time in window, I have no idea.

I hope Burberry will help you out with the material, good luck!

I can also add, that as a result of the car being displayed in the shop window, Harrods had 15 special edition ride-on electric toy cars (XK8), with Burberry seat cover, which I also made.

 

I worked on the green car.

SVO department was responsible for special customer requests, we did work for a number of well known people, Royalty, Government and the Police.

We built 12 green XK8's for the James Bond film 'Die Another Day'