Jaguar Mark V Headlining Colours

Hello friends,

Would someone be able to advise me if they know with any certainty if black coloured cars with red leather interiors were originally fitted with a tan or grey headlining? I have searched exhaustively on Jaguar websites with no success thus far.

Cheers,

Tim

Hi,

Excellent question, I don’t think there is absolute truth to this question even for XK’s or E-types.

But in general the logic (post-war at least, not sure about pre-war) was that there were three colours of headliner fabric available:

Grey, used in cars where the grey headliner would match the interior colour the best.

Fawn, used in cars where the (beige) headliner would match the interior colour the best.

Green, like suede green, used only in cars with green interiors, mostly Suede Green.

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 647194
Fin.

Hi,

One more thing, people like Mick Turley, Eric Suffolk who worked in the Jaguar trim shop, or people like Georg Dönni, who has restored many original unmolested cars must have a lot of data concerning this.

My understanding is that the “fawn” or beige wool headliner cloth was used in cars with:

Red, Maroon, Tan, Pigskin Grain Tan, Light Tan, Biscuit, Biscuit&Red, Beige interiors

Grey wool headliner was used in cars with:

Grey, Black, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Pale Blue (same thing as Light Blue) interiors

Green wool headliner was used in cars with Suede Green interiors.

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.

Thank you for the reply, Pekka.

I have a friend who has a completely original (as left the factory) MKIV which is black duco with a red leather interior and a grey wool ‘West of England’ cloth headliner which is grey, hence the question. Perhaps there are no hard and fast rules for these combinations? I can understand the logic of black/red/grey as a ‘tasteful’ combination and black/tan/fawn as another ‘tasteful’ combination. I recall that my grandfather’s MKV was black/tan/fawn. I have asked Jaguar Heritage and will wait to see if they come back with something. My car is at present black/red/fawn but will happily change the headliner to grey if I can receive a definitive answer.

Cheers and thanks,
Tim

So if we are saying fawn/beige/tan is three names for the same color, then my Mark V saloon was originally Gunmetal with Red upholstery and fawn/beige/tan headliner, and that is how it will be restored.
Is Fawn is the official factory name for the color?

Hi,

No, I don’t know what the factory may have called it, I am mostly referring to what the trim shops, suppliers like Woolies and enthusiasts call it.

Suprising to hear that a Red interior would have had grey headliner, I guess not impossible, nor tasteless, but unusual. The usual headliner colour would have been like with Rob’s Gunmetal car with a Red interior the headliner would usually have been beige, and also with a Black car if the interior was Red or Tan (or Pigskin Grain Tan).

Cheers,

Pekka T. -647194 (Pale Blue interior with Grey headliner)
Fin.

Hi Rob & Pekka,

In all my literature regarding these cars there is plenty of information about car colours and interiors, boot linings and trims but nothing about headlining. I guess that it might well have been a moveable feast with no hard and fast rules hence no information?

Rob, your car in gunmetal with a red interior sounds wonderful and is probably my favourite original combination, lucky fellow! My 12 year old daughter says my black car looks like a funeral director’s car. I said, “What a way to go!”.

Thank you both once again for your information but if you do find anything definitive from factory records then I would love to have it. If I learn anything I will post it.

Cheers,

Tim

Hi Tim,

Well Black is very period correct. Most big cars were Black over here in the fifties. Red with Black looks great IMO. With headliner colour I take it we would have to take MCT’s, Suffolk’s or Dönni’s word for it. There does not seem to be factory documentation on this subject.

Please add your car with photos to www.saloondata.com so we can all admire it.

Best wishes,

Pekka T.
Fin.

Hello Pekka,

Here is the response from Jaguar Heritage. Not too sure why they used the apostrophe incorrectly? You have to laugh I guess?

"Good Morning Mr Fox,

Thank you for you enquiry, we have checked the build ledger and cannot find any information on headlining’s, I am sorry but we cannot help you.

The Jaguar Enthusiasts Club may know of a restorer that knows the answer.

Kind regards,

Tracy Nabbs
Jaguar Heritage Trust Archive
British Motor Museum
Banbury Road
Gaydon
Warwickshire
CV35 0BJ"

We wait for a definitive answer in due course, if one exists!

I’ll post photo’s of my car - now possibly cars - in a few weeks.

Best wishes,

Tim

Here is a bit of my tan/fawn headliner, from my Gunmetal car with Red interior.


In quality I would describe it as the sort of fabric one would make khaki pants from, but it is napped on the exposed side.

Allan Crouch in his book says 38 percent of Mark Vs were black, the most popular color. Gunmetal runs second at 17 percent and Birch Grey comes in third at 10 percent.
Unfortunately he does not mention headliner colors; presumably like JDHT he could not find any information about it.

Black cars with Tan interior were the most popular combination at 14 percent of all Mark Vs, followed by Black with Pigskin 9% and Black with Red 7%.

On all Mark Vs, Red was the most popular interior color at 24 percent, followed by Tan at 18 percent and Blue at 17 percent.

Hi,

Yes, Allan is the man, he has all the numbers.

With restored cars, all original colours are becoming exceedingly rare! Only Gunmetal seems to be popular now. I can understand why some people today would not want a Black Saloon, but it does look great on a big Jag. I have always joked that Black is a very rewarding colour for people who like to wash and polish their cars! :smiley:

Mine will be (boring) Birch Grey / Blue again some day.

A good thing to note (I got it wrong in the beginning too) is that what Jaguar called “Blue” back then is what most people today would call grey.
The marketing name was “Pale Blue” and yes, it is very pale indeed. :slight_smile: They also called the same leather and Rexine “Light Blue” when used together with “Dark Blue” in two-tone interiors on the XK’s. Most people think that the Dark Blue is black, as it is, you guessed it, very, very dark. Jaguar of course also had “Grey” interiors too, which was a much lighter, slightly warmer hue. I can give the Connolly codes (they are in the old Photo Albums on J-L) in case someone wants. They used the same “blue” on the large Daimler DS.420’s all the way up to 1992 where it was called “Blue/Grey” on the brochure BTW. :slight_smile:

So yes. There will never be an official truth to the headliner colours, but observations of unrestored cars pretty much confirm what I and Rob have written. I guess with Red interiors or some other colours where grey would work as well as fawn there may have been some variation. Green is green all the way until ca. 1968 when they dropped the green headliner (I think green interiors on XJ’s have a beige headliner) and all blue, grey and black interiors had a grey headliner and I think the rest, like red, beige, brown etc. had the light brown/fawn/beige headliner.

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 647194
Fin.

I don’t see unrestored cars in anything like fair condition anymore, but way back in the early 1990s I saw saloon 628498, originally pastel blue metallic, which at that time still had the original pale blue upholstery with dark blue piping, and the original tan/fawn headliner. Here it is, from the days of 35mm film cameras.

This probably doesn’t add much but here is a few photos from an original black MkV with tan interior that I had some involvement with a few years ago.
A bit dirty I’m afraid.

Peter

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Hi Rob & Peter,

Wow! I would never have thought they used the fawn/light brown headliner in a Saloon that was Pastel Blue Metallic with a Pale Blue interior, (and the contrasting Dark Blue piping). You must have seen much more than I have. On my car I could not be sure of the headliner as it had been redone, but inside the seats I found both some straps of the Pale Blue Rexine as well as some pieces of grey headliner used for padding/protection on sharp corners and similar material in a few places behind the corners of the rear seat. Definately grey in my car that was Birch Grey with a Pale Blue interior and a French Grey hood (top).

Cheers,

Pekka T. - 647194
Fin.

Hello Friends,

I think that there was probably no hard and fast “rule” for the ‘pushrod’ cars. Perhaps shortages after WWII necessitated using what was to hand?

Here is a photo’s of unrestored 1948 MKIV 3.5L which was originally painted black with a red interior and I’ll let other decide if the headliner colour (just visible) is ‘light blue’ or grey, bearing in mind that the car is now 70 years young!

Best wishes to all,

Timothy Fox
Timothy2963@gmail.com

Hello again friends,
This is what my Mark V looks like at present. It was black with a red interior from the factory and is now fitted with the beige/fawn headliner which looks very smart and I’m happy with it. Yes, Pekka, I enjoy washing and polishing my car!:innocent:

Cheers,
Tim

1 Like

Much appreciated, Peter and Tim. I hope to be installing headliner next year.