I have recently acquired a lovely original MKII. It is fitted with a factory sunroof! I have never seen one of these before on a MKII but it is listed as having been fitted by the factory according to the Heritage Certificate. I have looked through all my reference books but can’t find any reference to it. Has anyone ever seen one on another MKII. It looks similar to the one I have on my MKV and operates in the same way, turn handle, slide forward and back. It is also finished on the inside with polished timber matching the rest of the wood in the car. Again, it’s laid out in the same manner as on my MKV.
I looked at a Mk2 in Portland, Oregon a few years back that had a Webasto sunroof. I didn’t buy the car, but was led to believe they were installed outside of the factory at a nearby supplier. The Webasto sunroof is quite large with a canvas (I think) roof. The car I looked at would have needed a complete refurbishment of the roof…no doubt an expensive proposition.
Factory sunroofs in a Mk11 are rare , however have seen one at a show in Detroit, it also had front reclining seats .2 very nice options . Much superior to the Webasto setup.
Kim R
2012 XK Convertible
2005 XJ8L
61 Mk11 3.8
Thanks very much for the information, it’s encouraging to hear that you have seen a proper factory fitted one like mine. I’m having trouble posting photo’s on the site as it just lets me load the j.peg information not the actual image??
It’s definitely a factory fitted sunroof and not a Webasto roof (honestly, I’d never heard of them before) as it’s painted steel with a typical wood trim, matching headlining on the interior like my MKV. It certainly doesn’t have a vinyl roof (I guess that’s what is meant by a canvas roof?).
All of the parts required for the installation of the factory sunroof are listed in the Jaguar Mark 2 Spare Parts Catalogue. It’s an interesting read, as there are numerous differences between a standard Mark 2 and a Mark 2 fitted with a sunroof at the works.
Our Mark 2 was fitted with a steel sliding “Golde” brand sunroof prior to customer delivery in Europe. We purchased this car BECAUSE it had the sunroof installed. It really makes the driving experience so much richer…I’m very happy with the choice that we made.
Golde was the factory supplier of sunroofs to Porsche, Mercedes and VW in period (They were German based). Golde even manufactured an optional installation for the Ford Thunderbird.
According to period brochures that I’ve been able to locate, Golde sliding sunroofs were “approved” by Jaguar (as was Webasto I believe). I’ve included a photo of our sunroof installation from the interior side. Ours is electrically powered. A hand crank drive system was standard. As you’ve cited, the factory Mark 2 sliding sunroof looks and functions just like the larger Jaguar Saloons of the period.
I finally have access to my reference books and was delighted to find that the factory fitted sunroof is the one I have. My research says that in order to have a factory fitted one you had to have a specially reinforced body constructed as distinct from the standard saloon body. Little wonder they are so rare as I’m sure the factory was reluctant to do it because of the extra work involved. I wonder what they cost with all the extra work?
I have discovered that I was following the correct method and while it shows up as characters in what I see, when I upload it to the forum the photo appears!
I have just received word from Jaguar’s Heritage Trust that, “Sunroofs were optional extras and were not normally logged in the manufacturers build ledger.”. That is very odd considering that a completely different and strengthened body was required to fit the steel sunroof? One would think that such a significant variation would have warranted some mention? Fascinating stuff.
That sounds like they are thinking of the Webasto canvas sunroof, which was done to already finished cars by Webasto somewhere down the road from Brown’s Lane.
Maybe the steel sunroof was so rare as to not get marked into the company record books, or JDHT has not yet found it?
Did you have them look up your specific chassis or car number?
Yes they had the records for my car but no mention of the sunroof. It’s definitely not a ‘Webasto’ sunroof. I guess that as Nigel Thorley suggests that they were so rare that they are not mentioned. I suspect that they were also so difficult to produce that they didn’t want to encourage them being ordered.
I was able to find a heater rod for the MKV using your photo, so thank you very much for that.
I always found it “odd” that for many years after Jaguar’s fire at the factory, they stated they had “lost” a number of records pertaining to Cars being built.
Thirty Five years later, they start charging for Heritage Certificates and the missing gap years affected by the fire have been magically reconstituted?
Perhaps the build records were saved or in a different part of the building from the fire?
The question for me is how accurate the records really are given the likelihood of human error from time to time?
I know of a two owner MKII (father then son) which has numbers matching the build plate in the car but when he ordered and received a Heritage Certificate it said that the car had originally been fitted with a different engine!?? The engine had not been changed from new.
