I need informed opinions, as I am preparing a judging guide for the Series III XJ; the guides are intended, as far as I understand, to provide a reliable guide to authenticity of items presented not only on USA-specification cars, but also Canadian-specification cars; together these two specifications consitute the majority of the examples on the JCNA concours field. "Other-market" specifications should be included where they are known, because occasionally thesetoo are found on the concours field.
The question A): the author of the guide must work not only from an extensive knowledge of the cars themselves (and this should include cars from *both* the US and Canadian markets), but also from authorised Jaguar materials, correct?
Question B): does the official Parts Manual constitute an "authoritative source" for specifications? If so, where the manual states "Canada only" for a certain part, or "USA only" for a certain part, what is this taken to mean? My understanding of a "USA only" notation in the parts manual is that that if there are two variants of the part listed, the part noted as "USA only" is intended to be fitted to cars for the USA market *only*, and that other market cars are intended to be equipped with the OTHER part. Is this a correct interpretation? Is this not sufficient proof that the USA car on the field should be equipped with the variant listed as "USA only" and that, say, a Canadian car should have the other variant?
Responses please.
Gregory Andrachuk
1992 Series III V12 Vanden Plas
1966 Mark 2 3.8
2002 X-Type
Submitted by SW07-04436J on Sun, 10/23/2005 - 12:05
Submitted by peddlarbob@sym… on Fri, 07/29/2005 - 00:22
judging guides
Gregory I believe you are absolutely correct. There are many prime examples of this throughout the various models of Jaguars but none more then so in the Series III model cars. Because of various Government legislationÆs covering the importation of these cars. Cars for export to the US tended to be of a stand alone veriety as opposed to those that came to Canada which were more similar to those available in the rest of the world.
Unfortunately because Canada seems to have been treated as a rather a limited market for Jaguar in relationship to the that of the States, Jaguar never seemed to produce adequate literature in order for us to support the claimed differences between these cars. For example I have never seem any literature that explains clearly what the winter package is on a Canadian series III. However we Canadians all know that it exists and precisely what it comprises of. The US chose not to order their cars fitted with this option so it is non-existent down there. Unfortunately this puts us in a difficult position of proving it exists at all. If we were prevented from using the parts book as evidence, we would be at a total loss to prove that this option ever existed.
A similar problem exists with the side body protectors. JCNA have recently stipulated that the body side moldings as supplied by the US dealerships is now the only one approved for concours. We never saw that type of body molding up here in Canada and the standard one installed by all our Canadian dealerships differs widely from that now being stipulated as acceptable. The result is that next year all Canadian cars with body side protectors will carry a penalty of 2.5 per side. Hardly fair to the Canadian participants but thatÆs the rules as they stand.
When writing these guide we have to be flexible enough to concern ourselves with the differences between the models supplied to the various markets. While at the same time appreciate that when the variations are not meticulously detailed in Jaguar literature, which is quite frequently found to be the case. The parts book should be accepted as proof of the existence of these variations.
Bob.
92 Ser III V-12 VDP #31 Canadian limited edition
87 Ser III V-12 VDP
86 Ser III AJ6/Soveriegn
85 Ser III XJ6 VDP
Submitted by dougdwyer@adel… on Fri, 07/29/2005 - 00:10
judging guides
I will chime in but I am not an authority on anything except, perhaps, how to make the world's driest Beefeater martini or best chili-dog. Anyhow....
Question A) Yes and yes, I'd say
Question B) Yes, I would consider the parts manual to be an authoritative source.
Question B) cont'd Yes, I agree with what you have written. I also suspect you *may* find parts listings noted "USA only" where that part existed only on USA cars, and was not used in any form on other variants.
Doug Dwyer
Longview Washington USA
1987 XJ6 Ser III
1988 XJS V12 Coupe
I am working on the Series 3 E-Type judges guide. I have already received valuable input from a number of members.
The question I have is, was the Series 3 E-Type ever offered with the factory optional Webasto sliding cloth top? If so, could someone send me a good photo of such.
I could also use a good photo of the factory optional hardtop, just to point out what it looks like and to say that it is not acceptable for judging.
Steve Kennedy
Denver