Differences between USA Vanden Plas and standard XJ6 trim

I have owned two Series III XJ6 Vanden Plas (VdP) and parted out two additional Series III XJ6s and one Series III XJ6 Vanden Plas and noted the differences between the VdP and standard XJ6 trim packages between these cars. I occasionally get asked about the difference between them at car shows and club event and so I compiled the list below. I started with the list on the old Jag-Lovers.org FAQ page and updated it with my own observations. Please take a look below and let me know if you have any corrections, changes or updates to provide to this list.

What Features Distinguish the Vanden Plas from the Standard Jaguar XJ6?

  • The interior wood is made of higher quality figured hand burnished burl walnut.

  • The seats are made of a higher quality Connolly leather with contoured bolsters without pleats around front of base and top of backrest with pleated leather insets. Standard seats have pleats that run from front to back of seat bottom and top to bottom of seat back.

  • The seats are made of leather even around sides and back. The standard XJ6 used vinyl for those areas not directly in contact with the occupants.

  • They have door pull/armrests separate from map pocket, on both front and rear seats and they have “puddle lamps” on both the front and rear doors.

  • The center console is extended about 4 inches further at the rear where it has a cigarette lighter and a single chrome-door ashtray. There are no rear door ashtrays.

  • They came with Rattan colored fur fabric rugs in the front passenger and rear footwells.

  • The dashboard instruments are countersunk so that edges of bezels are almost flush with the wood, whereas standard XJ6 instrument bezels stand quite a bit above the wood.

  • The trunk (boot) lid has a fiberboard protective cover and a chromed “Vanden Plas” badge.

  • The rear seats have a fold down arm rest in the center with a storage compartment.

  • There are two overhead reading lamps for the outboard rear passengers.

  • Some components were chrome plated like the front seat adjustment bars, and the door latch hardware, although later versions of the XJ6 also included these enhancements.

Paul

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Leather on parts of door pulls and map pocket; Leather console lid with stitching; inlays (boxwood) in burled door panel trim, although eventually extended to standard model.

Location of mirror controls moved to map pocket; chrome (not black rubber) mirror control knobs; stainless door sill trim (earlier or exclusive?); chrome trimmed speaker grilles; rear seats are bucket style; rear headrests introduced earlier?; centre rear seatbelt deleted.

Exclusive use of trim code AEE (Doeskin) in US models?

Not positive about most of this–just food for thought, Paul.

Robert,
I agree with the boxwood inlays, the orientation of the mirror joystick panel, and the chromed speaker grills. Some of the others are difficult to call since Jaguar made lots of trim changes over time and incorporated some of the VdP features in the standard XJ6s. I will do some more research and update my list.
Attached is a picture that I just took comparing the door wood on my 1990 V12 VdP with the boxwood inlays to the door wood from my 1987 XJ6 parts car. It may not be a fair comparison because the XJ6 wood is discolored with age. Still it nicely shows the more highly figured wood with the boxwood inlays of the VdP at the top over the standard XJ6 wood.

Paul

Are you sure the bezel inset was model-specific rather than standard after a certain date?

I think the Daimlers (your VDP) had extra sound deadening and better carpet material.

Pete,
I used to be sure about pretty much everything but as time has gone by I have become less and less sure about many things. At this rate I will soon be sure about very little but that won’t keep me from trying to sound like I am sure of things. And you can be sure of that! :slight_smile:
Well I did a comparison of the dash instruments in my 1987 XJ6 parts car (first picture) and my 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas (second picture) today.

The XJ6 instruments sit proud of the dash by 1/4" and the VdP instruments sit proud by only 3/32". How, you my ask, on earth did Jaguar achieve this amazing feat of engineering with the same instruments? Well it is simple. The VdP dash is about 5/32" thicker than the XJ6 dash! The difference in how the instruments sit in the dash and the thichess of the dash are evident in the pictures. Since I compared an earlier VdP with a later XJ6 I am sure, based on this comparison, that this feature wasn’t changed on the XJ6s at a later date.
I am sure about this, but not so sure about the sound deadening or better carpeting. I am sure that I have more research to do.

Paul

Paul, did the USA VDP cars have rear headrests for 1987? I’ve never been able to nail this down. I think they did.

Also, for 1987, the upper console surround trim matched the interior color…as opposed to being black.

Cheers
DD

Doug,
Yes, the 1987 XJ6 VdP had two headrests on the rear seat back from the factory. My 1984 XJ6 VdP did not. I am not sure when the rear headrest showed up by my guess is 1986 along with the other trim changes (stainless steel sill plates, wood shifter surround).

My 1984 XJ6 VdP has a Black upper console parcel shelf which does not really match the Doeskin interior but it does match the black vinyl sun visors. My 1987 XJ6 VdP had a Doeskin one to match the Doeskin interior and tan sun visors. My 1990 V12 Vanden Plas has a Magnolia one to match the rest of the interior and also has tan sun visors. I am not sure why Jaguar made these changes. But, perhaps it was so that we could have these fascinating email discussions :wink:

Paul