The 'E' Type Forum

Hi, I am in the process of restoring a 1968 OTS. The car is Dark Blue. The previous interior was black, but I have to replace the complete interior and am not sure what color to choose.
The most important is to get a nice combination, but if the combination also were a combination delivered in 1968 it would be nice. Originally the Dark Blue was delivered with Red, Light Blue or Grey interior.
There are not many E-types here in Norway, especially not in Dark Blue. So I am not sure what would look good with the exterior color.
(The hood is black. Its brand new and I don?t think I want to replace this.)
Any ideas and opinions is welcome.

This is a picture of my OTS: http://www.xkedata.com/gallery/zoom/?id=184899

Jon

According to the Clausager book '68 Dark Blue cars were supplied with Black, Dark Blue, Grey, Light Blue and Red interiors with Black and Blue being most popular. A matter of personal taste but Red could look really good. What does the JDHT certificate say it was on delivery?

Hi, I just ordered my JDHT certificate so I don't know the delivery color yet. I haven?t the Clausager book, only the Philip Porter "Collector's Originality Guide". He doesn't mention Black and Dark Blue as interior colors for the Dark Blue cars, that?s why I didn?t mention those colors. Then maybe black is the original color.
I have not seen a Dark Blue car with Red interior in real life, but guess that would look nice.

MarkE has a black FHC with a red interior and it looks stunning. With a bit of imagination (or Photoshop) you could see what your dark blue one would look like:

Hi,

For an Opalescent Blue car with red interior - try here:

http://www.mckennasgarage.com/xke/jag41.htm

Also try here for a colour picker where you can experiment a little:

http://www.rogerlos.org/e/colors/

Hope you find this helpful,

Regards,

Simon

jonr wrote:Hi, I am in the process of restoring a 1968 OTS. The car is Dark Blue. The previous interior was black, but I have to replace the complete interior and am not sure what color to choose.
The most important is to get a nice combination, but if the combination also were a combination delivered in 1968 it would be nice. Originally the Dark Blue was delivered with Red, Light Blue or Grey interior.
There are not many E-types here in Norway, especially not in Dark Blue. So I am not sure what would look good with the exterior color.
(The hood is black. Its brand new and I don?t think I want to replace this.)
Any ideas and opinions is welcome.

This is a picture of my OTS: http://www.xkedata.com/gallery/zoom/?id=184899

Jon

Hi Jon, your car was built on 9th November 1967, went to Jaguar Cars New York (dealers) on 5th December 1967.
Original paint, Dark Blue, original trim, Dark Blue with Black top.
Original owner, A Harold Williams, Mount Vernon, Illinois.
Hope this helps, Tom.

Thank you for the info of the original paint, trim and first owner. This was interesting. And thank you for the other input.

Red looks very good at a dark car, makes a nice contrast to the body color. But the original trim in Dark Blue would also be nice. If I didn?t know the original color I think I would have chosen Red, but I also would like to keep the car original. A tough decision :)

Original is what the customer ordered as his preference. It is your car now so fit whatever pleases you as you have to live with it. Won't make any difference to the value and, of course, the interior can be returned to dark blue at a later date if a subsequent owner so wishes. Bit harder with the body colour!

My Dec 68-built OTS is Dark Blue with red interior and black hood. PM me for photos.
Pete

Hi Jon, just an extra bit of trivia you may be interested in, on 9th November 1967 (your cars DOB) there were 15 cars built, one of which was Dark Blue with Red trim and Blue top, delivered to owner in Fallsburg, NY.
Kind regards, Tom.

Where do you get this information, Tom....Great stuff!!

MarkE wrote:Where do you get this information, Tom....Great stuff!!

Hi MarkE, I work as a volunteer for Mark Dale who owns Classic Car Heritage
This allows me to peruse the records at my leisure, I previously worked for Jaguar in a similar position for over two decades.
I'm more than happy to help people out when I have the time.
Kind regards, Tom.

Tom,

how did classic car heritage get the database?, has it been copied from JDHT ?

Steve

Hi Steve, sorry, I'm not privy to that information, I'm only a volunteer :-)
Kind regards, Tom.

I asked JDHT that question in 2009. The following email is the answer I received from the Chief Archivist. There was a lot of discussion on JagLovers at the time.

"I'll be only too happy to explain. While I do not know exactly where the present owner operator of CCH got his/their information from, it goes back to the unfortunate fact that a set of microfilmed Jaguar production records were stolen from the JDHT over ten years ago, we believe by a disgruntled former employee. A criminal prosecution was thrown out of court on a technicality."

Kind regards

Anders Ditlev Clausager
Chief Archivist - Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust
Jaguar Cars, B/1/002, Browns Lane,
Coventry CV5 9DR, England
tel +44 (0)24 76 401286
fax +44 (0)24 76 401052
e-mail aclausag@jaguarlandrover.com

Can we drop this now please. Tom was kind enough to provide some interesting information and long may it continue. Do we really care where it came from as long as it is correct? As owners we really do not want to get involved in a spat over records that should probably be in the public domain any way after 50 odd years.

Do we really care where it came from as long as it is correct?



My vote and money goes to JDHT every time.