A small Mystery
 

I have the original invoice for my car which, as you can see, includes the sum of £1204.00 (probably about $1500.00US back then) for "Classic Leather Package".


This has always intrigued me - I thought that all XK8s came out of the factory with a leather interior, so what do I have that is exta to that - or - did the first owner just specifiy a very expensive cow instead of an ordinary cheap cow for his/her upholstery ??


Attachment 150647

Interesting considering there's actually very little actual leather in our cars. I think the seat and door inserts as well as the arm rest are about all that's real leather.

Isn't the steering wheel covered in leather? When I first read the question I thought of that. I thought I once saw different "levels" of premium leatheriq related to the steering wheel design. As I type I recall seeing leatheriq covered shift knob. Well others will probably know better.

There apparently were different grades of leather. According to this brochure, the Victory Editions came with premium soft grain leather:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...rochure-1-.pdf

I do not know what the "classic leather" is in yours. Perhaps you could post some interior pictures of yours to help us identify what differences there may be. For instance, some easily identifiable features in others would be the x350 Vanden Plas editions coming with fluted or piped leather seats, or the x100 Victory Edition coming with a leather wrapped steering wheel.

What color is your interior David?

I ask because Ivory colored leather was usually an expensive optional extra, though a no-cost option chosen for my 4.2S XK8 (UK equivalent to US Victory Edition). I've physically removed much of the interior for different project work and have positively identified genuine leather is used on;
All seat panels (except the back face and map pockets of the front seats)
Whole center console and center armrest,
Door armrests and padded panels
Rear Armrests
Front Carpet Edging! Ivory trim on Black Carpets

Leather is not used for the handbrake and seat belt gaiters. (Why?!)

Jaguar Customer Services confirmed with me that what I have is a full leather package

The early XK8's were offered with CLASSIC or SPORT seats. SPORT shown left and CLASSIC on the right:

Attachment 142466

There may be other differences in the CLASSIC trim package but I haven't got my brochures to hand.

Graham

Thanks everyone - Interesting.
Yes - I have the "classic" seats - vertical panels on seat back and front-to-rear panels on seat cushion. Seems a lot of money for a bit of extra stitching !!
Black interior. Leather and wood steering wheel.


Attachment 150643


............... and yes - I know the cover on the seat mechanism is broken but they are no longer available and I can't persuade any breakers to sell me "just" the little bit of plastic. One of these days, I'll get a 3D printer !!

So my interior looks just like yours just a different color, does that mean I also have the classic leather package. Mines an 03.

Yes, that looks like the standard interior for that year. It's virtually all vinyl.. even the entire center console is vinyl. Only the upper padding where you rest you arm is leather, the rear seats have even less leather. Only the Xk8's with the Recaro seats had real extended leather front and back.

Vinyl is not a bad thing. It ages better than leather, especially in convertibles!

But ............. it can't be the "standard" interior - taking tax into account as well, that's an extra £1415.00 for a "factory fitted option". For a car that originally cost a fraction under £60k and came with a leather interior, I just can't see what that additional money paid for !!
Doesn't really matter - just curiosity.

From the seats, looks like you have maybe a 97 or 98(pre-seat update years). On those early models, I've actually seen some of them with factory cloth inserts. So all leather was not standard, at least on those first years-models.

hm1 - maybe that's correct. Yes - mine is a 1997, but I have never seen one here in the UK with cloth inserts on the seats. I guess if you were already spending £50k or so, an additional 2% wouldn't be too much of an issue - just seems odd - that's all.

The Sport model was the base trim in the UK at first. It was never sold in the US. The Sport trim had cloth inserts (or leather for an additional cost), a dark grey stained maple dash, and higher contrast interior trim.

I gather it was not popular.

From you and your Jaguar XK/XKR by Nigel Thorley:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...54b5fe4c4.jpeg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...489f38e96.jpeg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...e0ff03cff.jpeg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...45f64d34b.jpeg

Dave - have you tried SNG Barratts for the mechanism covers?? I got 1 for mine a while back for about $70
Front Seat Outer Mechanism Cover RH
Product Code: GJB4730AALEG

Red - I think that solves the mystery - a very small amount of cow and a bit of additional stitching equals a great deal of additional money. I must admit, I have seen many XK8s here in the UK, and have never come across one with cloth inserts on the seats, so I guess very few purchasers went for that option.
Steve - my car is vin 016506 and the part number for the seat mechanism cover is GJA4730ADLEG which is no longer available. The part you suggest is from vin 018107 which I had never discovered as I didn't look at later models.
I won't risk the money for a part that won't fit but ......... from the pictures, they look very similar so I might find a friendly owner with a later car and do a direct comparison. If it's just the mounting lugs or a clip or something on the rear that's different, a bit of creativity and some superglue might just solve the problem. Thanks for the advice.

Dave - yeah saw that with the earlier VIN's. Bummer. Have you looked at the Forum For sale section - a few folks were breaking XK8/R's that may be able to provide

Steve - I'm keeping an eye on Ebay and this Forum and others. For very understandable reasons, nobody wants to sell the plastic trim when they might be able to sell the complete seat.
I'm going to do a direct comparison with the later cover - it may be that the changes were very minor, and I can do a creative modification !!
Thanks again.