Maybe it is sacrilegious to even suggest but has anyone removed the totally useless rear seat and recovered the area in a nice carpet or well crafted upholstery design? I know the seat belt back there work well to lock in grocery bags, but little else. At least without the attempt of seats there would be somewhat usable space??

 

Yes, it has been done. Some have converted the back seat into a shelf with straps like you would find on some Ferrari's. It's not sacrilegious. The back seat is useless unless you are under the age of 10 or are about as tall as someone the age of 10.

As a short guy (5'4"), even I don't fit back there.

 

It would seem that there could be some good solutions to the area that would be very professional looking.

 

I rarely put anything in the back seat anyway, so it's not a big deal for me. I have found that when going on vacation and I need all the space the car has, the back seat is very good for two suitcases, wheels up. All the smaller stuff goes in the trunk. No worries of anything blowing away when the top is down. As previously mentioned, if you do a nice job I can see it. I recall the old AMX Javelin with that two seat setup, which I thought was cool.

 

Here's something to look at

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-103014/page2/

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...nished-104450/

 

The forum member who performed the most visually radical back-seat elimination project on his XK8 was "philhef", probably five years or so ago. Search his posts and you will find many photos with some how-to instructions as well. I doubt if anyone else would want to go quite as far as he did, but you will certainly gain an understanding of the process if you look at his work. No idea if he is still around but if he is, perhaps he will see this post and offer more guidance to you....

 

the backseat is a perfect fit for my house pony but not much more. Agree with Jon89 - philhef did an excellent job of reclaiming that space

 

Lucky I posted a link to his post then!

 

Wow, that looks great. ^^^ But looks like it took some doing. Too bad you couldn't get them like that from the factory.

 

True story: I once drove four people (not including myself) in my XK8 coupe.

It wasn't a good time.

 

I checked that link and it was definitely a good job. A shame to waste that space with such a useless seat. Looks pretty, but so did my first ex-wife.

 

I'm fascinated to know where you found the rear seat .........




Graham

 

Graham,

He is considering acquiring an XK8. This post does not pertain to his F-Type....

 

I currently have an F-type, but am planning to buy an XK8. Am I not allowed to discuss ideas on this forum until I am an owner??

 

 

 

Only some of them! I'm 23, and I'm pretty sure giandaniel isn't much older

I will say, though, that people my age have very little inclination to engage with cars. So many cars these days are just appliances. I have a buddy who bought a brand new loaded Honda Accord. For that money, I'd have bought 2-3 much more interesting cars. Probably much less reliable, too, but that's why I've got tools and a floor jack. So few people get to experience driving a car engineered to be enjoyable to drive. I feel like so many people are missing out, young people especially.

 

 

Clearly English humour doesn't travel as far as Florida. I made a light-hearted post to which you appear to have taken umbrage. If I have upset you in any way, please accept my profound apologies.

Graham

 

Far from being useless, the rear seats can take at least one adult if necessary and two smaller kids easily. Obviously if you want to run a taxi service the XK8/R isn't going to be the vehicle of choice, but it is far more practical than real 2 seaters and it has a huge boot to go with it, plus why on earth should free-loading passengers expect to be comfortable?