External Rear View Mirror`

List:
I am happy to report that I put the 73 XJ6 to bed yesterday for the winter.
I was having trouble finding a safe, clean, reasonable storage space for it. And the snow has begun in Northeast Pennsylvania, USA. Fortunately, a kindly neighbor offered to let me use the unused space in her two car garage.

I decided to back the car into the space, which allowed me to park it close to the outside wall, maximized the space between the two cars. In backing the car in, I realized how much I miss having a passenger side rear view mirror.

Unlike my 71 XJ6, which has a simple flat mirror housing, this unit, which is adjustable from inside the car, has a large, bolbus semi-circular housing which is all chrome: A little bit much in my humble opinion.

I don’t need an inside adjustable mirror on the passenger side, but I would like one that matches the existing., Did Jaguar offer a matching passenger side mirror? How realistic would it be to seek one from a junkyard in a county where the driver was on the right?

Regards
Lou

Lou,

I think you will be very lucky to find a secondhand mirror in the UK for example.

However, I am 99% sure you can reverse the handing of the mirrors because I wanted a left hand mirror for my car and that’s what I did. I may have had to break the glass to do it though.

These mirrors were the same as an AMC Javelin and there are a few for sale on EBay USA at the moment.

Failing all that SNG Barratt are listing right hand mirrors on the UK site. They are remotely adjustable though. They even list an electric version so you could easily put the controls for that in your driver’s door by simply using a double escutcheon from an S3 to hold the two operating levers which is what I did to save messing up the passenger door card.

I converted my left hand mirror to electric myself but I can’t for the life of me remember how it’s been so long ago.

Part number is BD41463.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Lou,

answering would be easier if I knew which kind of mirror you want and which kind you’ve got - maybe you could post some pics? I’m fairly sure that at least on early SI cars Jaguar even didn’t fit outside rearview mirrors ex factory, but left it to the importers to comply with local legislation and customer preferences.

I’ve got the early humble, but sleek chromed mirrors. They look wonderful to me, complement the chrome bumpers, rimbellishers and window chrome and don’t add to the overall width of the car. Adjusting them isn’t exacly fun though - the first time it took me about half an hour, alone with two spanners. As I’m the only driver I can live with it. The second thing is that they vibrate a lot more than the later style presumably does. They seem to be available at a reasonable price (a quick search showed 65 EUR a piece).

Every now and then I’ve thought about getting the later style that is adjusted from inside, I never found a complete set of two including the mechanism and the inside parts though - and every time I see a car with these elephant ears I tend to prefer the classic style … and keep looking over my shoulder before changing lanes.

Good luck

Jochen

This was standard for USA 73s and on Series 2 cars as well (the boot lid plinth and two-colour tail light lenses also carried onto Series 2). There is a matching right (passenger) side mirror available–I fit both sides to my 71.

But AFAIK the passenger mirror is not available with a convex surface, which makes a big improvement IMO. For that reason, I fit XJS mirrors to my 73. At my age the larger size of the S3 mirrors helps as well. In fact I also fitted XJS or S3 XJ6 mirrors to my Alfa and to my Corvair.

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Really? As in, identical?

Hmmm: maybe those would work on my Rover… have a pic or two I could view?

TIA!

Robert,

I hadn’t noticed your posting

, but now you’re disappointing me a bit;-) Even at our age - I’m both short-sighted and long-sighted at the same time - we better look over our shoulders than rely on any shaky mirror, don’t we …

That being said I was tempted to fit a rearview camera and a screen inside. The problem was that the lower dashboard edge kind of blocks the extension of a 7" screen mounted to a head unit in the DIN radio slot.

Keep the faith anyhow

Jochen

75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)

Hahaha! Jochen, I was just wondering which list would be longer–my own Krankheiten or those of my Series 1. :slight_smile:

Included in the former is inability to turn my head very far from straight ahead. It’s a result of a curved spine which was treated by fusing together most of my vertebrae. So, over the years, the unfused ones in my neck got extra duty. Consequently, I’ve been interested in a rear view camera too–but I get confused every time I look at the many options.

Has anyone fitted an aftermarket rear-facing camera to an XJ?

There are no external mirrors on my 74. It is challenging driving it but I love the look without them. I believe the dealers fitted them. I’ve also heard that the mirrrors on ser1/2 are the same as 70’s AMC.

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I haven’t fitted a rear view camera to a Jag but have fitted one to the wifes Mazda, this is a Wifi unit so no wires to snake through the cabin, this is only fired up when reverse is engaged so longevity if left powered up while the car is driving I have no knowledge. Also would be a bit hesitant with night driving?

It’s RHD, too (in the US), which probably doesn’t make it any easier. John claims that as an airline pilot he’s used to ignoring what’s behind him. :slight_smile:

Yes, those mirrors are the same as on AMC cars, and the electric S3 mirrors are the same as on some Jeep vehicles (although the wiring is different). But there are different versions of these mirrors depending on the angle of the base relative to the stalk. On the S2 mechanical mirrors, there are two different cable lengths that I’ve seen, maybe more.

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**
A fighter pilot may have other opinions, Bob…:slight_smile:

Since cars are all moving on the same level; I do not feel comfortable without a good rear view - not even in a golf cart. And the more mirrors the better the chance on seeing somebody sneaking up on you from the rear…:slight_smile:

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
**

Frank, I will admit that I don’t “check my six” very often :grin:

That’s just the pilot in ya…:wink:

Assuming your '73 is a 4-door, I believe what you are describing is part BD.40822 Left and BD.41463 Right with a 3-cable remote control joy stick. I put a RH one on mine initially just for symmetry, but I found I like it. I believe I got it from Special Interest Car Parts but they are long gone.
For some reason there are different part numbers for 2-door cars.

I asked up above: THE exact same mirrors? got a part number?

John:

That is a beautiful car! I can understand who you don’t want to muddy up the exterior. Nice tires too.

Lou

You didn’t ask me, Paul. I should have said “same style” as I clarified later in my post. My experience is that I bought two of the oval S2 mirrors from the aftermarket, and they had the same foot angle as my rusty original but shorter cables to the joystick. I also bought a S3 style rectangular electric mirror from a Jeep vendor. It had different motors that adjusted the mirror diagonally IIRC, and it certainly had a different wiring connector, possibly with 3 rather than 4 wires. Also, while the mounting foot angle differs between XJS and XJ6 mirrors, the Jeep mirror I bought had a third foot angle–not suitable for either car.

I should point out that John Testrake is a good source of barely used Jaguar mirrors, but I believe I’ve exhausted his stock. :slight_smile:

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I love the gold and white side wals, where did you find these tires? they’re awesome.

I do like the looks, sans mirrors: I personally could not drive it on the street!