I am restoring a mid 1952 MKVII and have questions about the interior door panels. Are the lines on the panels embossed or are they stitched in as on the later cars. Of course my car was partially dismantled when I purchased it and the interior was replaced decades ago. There are not a lot of these cars with original interiors in Northern California to compare with. Any photos of panels would be great.
Greetings All,
Will a '53 do?
Still have the originals.
Have you looked on http://www.saloondata.com/
or brochures http://www.jag-lovers.org/brochures/
My inclination would be to say it was stitched piping, not embossed.
Thank you for responding. On the originals are the seams/lines embossed (melted in) or are they stitched. I can stitch the panels but can not emboss them.
Bob
Thanks for responding. Your post reminded me that I have two copies of the sales brochure for the MKVII. I checked and it appears that they may be stitched. I am asking this question because I want to be as authentic as possible but will probably stitch the panels. Turns out that there is not a single piece of original interior in the car, including the trunk, and the few local cars I found are in the same condition. I am not sure why but originality is important to me. I went so far as to polish the original copper fuel lines that no one will ever see and clean and de-rusted a number of parts that are similarly out of view.
Raise your hands, all who have polished and clear lacquered your copper fuel pipes. 
Anything you do to retard the deterioration is a good thing.
Mark Vs are certainly stitched with piping in an arc across the middle. You might look at Mark IXs which seem to have survived in greater numbers. If they are stitched, Mark VIIs would be.
Greetings All,
Currently at lunch an hour away from home.
When i get home, will take pictures of the MKVIIM and MKIX. Both have their original door panels. The MKIX’s are past their prime, The VII’s in pretty good to the point of restretching them over new door cards.
Probably won’t post until later tonight.
Burning daylight and my 1934 SS1 Tourer just received a correct Flathead from the UK and it has not been opened as yet.
Want to make sure that jigsaw puzzle is reasonably complete.
Sorry Jagsew,
Sorry, been a little busy here.
Took some bad pictures, but they convey the info.
The green door panel is from the '53 VII and is stitched. The red one is a '60 MKIX, also stitched.
What I can’t tell you is if vinyl was available from the factory on the big ones. Ambla was available on the MKII.
Both are the original.
It looks to me on all these pictures the different sections of the door panels (door cards) are separated by a beading. I don’t think there is any way to do this with heat embossing. They may be sewn (or glued?) in some way in the back side?.
Greetings John,
Hence the pictures…
Take a look at the edge pictures, they show EXACTLY why these are not embossed/molded.
The seperate sections, are sewed together, that is an overlap, look closely. Most likely sewed once through inside of top piece into bottom. Then top piece is folded over and likely resewed for strength. It is possible they just folded it over once and sewed through top only, but the former would likely be stronger.
My concern was was that Jaguar might have used Ambla like they did on the smaller sedans of the era, then there might be a possibility. Being these were at the top end of the marque, it is sort of doubtful. If wrong, someone will set it correct here.
Electricity has been off in northern California since Saturday so I just got your message. Thank you for the photos. Stitching I can do so this makes the restoration so much easier and less expensive,
Jim Smith
Greetings,
Hope all is well and safe.
I figured when you saw the way Jaguar wrapped the door car edge it would answer your question.
Currently working on a '34 SS1 Tourer. The VIIM And IX will wait.
Good Luck.
Got curious so I got down the box with the old Mark V upholstery pieces to take a look. Got a surprise. They were tacked. The beading was sewn in a machine with a special foot that curls the strip over on itself so you get a roll of this stuff many yards long. You can buy this stuff from upholstery sources, usually called beading or piping or welting. But it was just laid in on the door panel over the first large piece and the second large piece was tacked over it, and folded over to hide the tacks.
Those cars I thought had thin ply backing for door cards.
The fibre/masonite won’t do tacks.
I have been using PVC sheet as it doesn’t absorb water and transmit it to the upholstery.