In a CONCOURS, its all about “Authenticity” and not “Originality” in the strictest sense, although its referred to as judging Originality.
If a car is painted in an “Authentic” paint colour (for that particular model and age of Jaguar), and trimmed in an “Authentic” colour, and the paint-trim colour combination is “authentic” then our Concours Rules say zero deduction, and indeed a judge wouldn’t know whether paint or trim colour had been changed anyway. So if you have a CARMEN RED E-type, originally fitted with BLACK interior, makes zero deduction in a Concours if you change interior trim colour to RED or BEIGE, both being authentic trim colours and authentic paint-trim combination for all 3.8 and 4.2 E-types.
But if the pictured 3.8 Seats were fitted in a 1965 E-type, regardless of colours, would get a major hiding for non-authentic seats…
So feel free to do whatever you want re paint and trim colours, but if you want to enter a Concours, comply with the rules of the event re “authenticity” of colours. If you insist on staying with 'Original" colours, that works as well (of course).
Badda boom, badda bing.
I have a Carmen red with black interior '68 FHC. I do like some of the other colors better with red but will never change it from black. One of my 70’s Chevy’s is red with beige interior. I do like the color combination better but that interior has not held up as well and takes more effort to keep looking clean especially in a car that sees frequent use. Also when it comes to vinyl and plastic I have found the darker colors to be more durable too. Much of the black interior on my E is original and I think still looks quite presentable. My 2 cents.
David
68 E-type FHC
ChAnged mine from Tan to Red because that’s what I wanted!
Stew
Originality versus a car that you want to own. If the car has a unique provenance, this question becomes objective - keep the originailty. Otherwise it is a subjective judgement, and in that vein…
My car was originaly OSG with light grey hide. It is now Carmen (resale)red but retains its light grey hide. Light grey is one of the most pale colours used for interior trim by Jaguar. It lightens the cabin of a coupe or 2+2. I think it is rather more elegant than the browns and beiges of Biscuit or Tan. As with all subjective judgements beauty is in the eye…
If my car hadoriginally been black, I’d be considering a change. Only considering, as I think I have a bigger and potentially more expensive issue looming.
More great comment thanks to you all. I like especially the contribution by Roger about authenticity vs. originality. And I certainly do agree with Paul and David about the ease of maintaining the black and I’ve struggled a bit with changing this color. The old, tired black interior in it right now still looks decent on camera and I’ll probably drive it (with a new headliner) that way before I redo the interior. Besides in 1968, at 21, I drove a new Etype from Phoenix to Huntington, Long Island in 2-1/2 days including 16 hours in Chicago to see a girl. One of my fondest memories driving that black on black car.
The car Nick puts up from Southebys is stunning and black on black. And I’m going to check out that light grey, not sure it was a color choice in 1963 though.
All in all, good conversation and thanks to all for your contributions.
Somewhat like the SS100 of Dave Garroway’s: he hand-stitched a alligator skin interior in it… not original, but AFAIK, that remains with the car.
I love original interiors , even if they are a bit worn and tatty - the seats in particular . If the rest of the car has been restored , they are really the only clue that this is a " real " old car , with character , not some kind of replica.
Love your black too John. Reminds me of the '68 I drove across country. The black seats I have now are quite worn and that is all of the interior one could use. The whole package sat out in the Arizona sun for nearly 20 years; I’m surprised the seats are as nice as they are.
And that’s all that needs to be said, IMO.
The way I see it, I’m not running a museum or curating a collection. I’m throwing a not inconsiderable sum of money at a hobby, a diversion. Why should I not create something that gives me the most pleasure?
You may wish to consider that light colored leathers tend to collect a touch of blue jeans color over time, particularly from the sliding-in motion when getting seated. Some people are bothered by that coloration, some don’t care, and some don’t use the car enough for it to appear.
There is no question that a black interior looks sharp. In your photos it’s nicely lighted, but many times getting into my black interior felt like crawling into a black hole. And at least in the California sun, it can stiflingly hot. It too shows lots of dirt.
As far as tan interiors not staying as clean, I had a tan interior on my daily driver, with 118,000 miles, and it looks good.
My 69 2+2 was original and I thought I wanted to do some mods that i wanted. Just to be safe I checked my title and it had my name all over it, so that answered that. My car looks and drives much better and at shows it gets more attention and likes than the 100 pointers.
Scot, I am with those that say it is your car, you do with it as you please. Taking into account the very numerous and significant changes that many have take such as, moss to synchro to 5 speed, open to closed headlights, rockers to toggle switches, ZS to SU to fuel injections, rim widths, vinyl to cloth tops, fans, brakes, distributors, steering wheels, cam covers, header tanks, exhaust headers, mufflers, resonators, front parking lights, side lights, tail lights, and I have probably only named a few- I do not really believe you should be too concerned about changing the color of the interior.
Enjoy,
Tom
My interior is also light blue / grey. Really didn’t care for it at first but it eventually grew on me. Works well with the dark blue exterior and quite frankly you don’t see many E’s with that interior. A win-win for my originality OCD…
Original and replacement , original is a little darker (after nearly 50 years ?) :
Good advice David!
I’m having a hard time finding resources on this new website for J-L. Isn’t there a library or album for each member anymore? And I remember a Jaguar document that listed the available color schemes. I can’t find that!
That light blue is pretty cool
I like that light blue/grey too! But better to have the better half satisfied than to offer up more choices…