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Hello all,

In addition to the works to fix the check engine light (check out the FF23 thread in the Engine section), I have been looking to tidy up the interior of my 1994 XJS Coupe.

2 areas of the interior were really beginning to let it down - the headlining and the driver's seat. So, once I had the mechanical elements sorted in August, I booked the car in for some work at Aldridge Trimming. (https://www.aldridge.co.uk/). Dan at Aldridge Trimming was very patient with me, as the car had to be rebooked with him several times due to the logistics of arranging this from the North West... but it was worth the wait. Having arrived at a slightly unprepossessing industrial area in Wolverhampton, once inside it was a real Aladdin's cave! Lots of wonderful cars and bikes being worked on - including a beautiful full retrim of series 1 E type coupe, a VW Karmann Ghia, a Healey and what was probably a Ferrari 246 Dino under a cover. The people were lovely and all came to cast their expert eye over the XJS, including trying to sort out how my later facelift car differed from the earlier HE and Pre-HE, from a trim side (answer? = a lot!).

Behind the line of cars being worked on were row upon row of trimming worktables, with lots of different projects on the go and finally behind them were the rolls and rolls of stock material, waiting to be used. I could have stayed there for a long time, talking trimming and running a business during the pressures of lock down etc, but my wife was waiting, so I had to hurry!

I asked that both the headlining and the driver's seat were attended to. Dan found a suitable headlining cloth, a shade darker than the original, but still suitable and we agreed that the driver's seat should be repaired but to keep the patina that it had. I hope the before and after pictures in this post and the next show how they did....

Headlining Before:
Headlining After:

Continued..

And as for the Driver's seat - before:
Driver's seat - after:
I think they did a good job. And I felt it was value for money. The headlining was £444.45 for supply and fit of the headlining, the seat repair was £65.

Though this year has seen relatively little use of the car, I still get a huge amount of enjoyment researching, investigating, sourcing parts and fixing it... even when it hardly leaves the garage! Now that things have eased a little, I did manage a good run out into mid - Wales early in September - and it was brilliant!

Stay safe and I hope you are all getting some use out of your Jags too!

Andy

Well done Andy. The improvement is obvious and the cost wasn't as scary as we might have feared?
What did they do to the seat?

Hi David

No - the costs were not too bad at all. I had explored the route of changing the headlining myself, but the replacement one I had ordered wasn't brilliant when it arrived - it took finger marks very easily and, even though sold as a facelift version, it still had the holes and form in the headliner substrate for the interior mirror foot. On my facelift car, the interior mirror is mounted to the windscreen. Added to this, I was somewhat intimidated at removing so much of the interior to get the headlining out... all those 25yo plastic trim clips!

The headlining from Aldridge Trimming is of higher quality than the previous replacement, didn't have the "wrong" mirror mounting and was fitted for me.... so all in all, very happy.

For the seat, the cushion had some small cuts / loose surface pieces in it - possibly from studs on jeans or trouser buttons. The driver's seat outer bolster was also worn and cracked. Aldridge glued the loose flaps and coloured/filled the cracks, without replacing whole panels, which would have lost the patina in the seat and stood out a mile! I am hoping that a little preventative work, in addition to my regular maintenance of leather cleaner and feeding, will keep the seats in good condition. They are certainly a lot better than when I bought it!

It has been a good summer for crossing things off the to do list!

AF

Hi Andy,
Thanks for telling us about the service and prices you got from Aldridge.
You hear so much about firms like Aldridge but never know how they perform really.
I've always thought they are a good company from what I've seen on Car SOS and the like.
The work looks good,glad your happy.
Enjoy your XJS.
Take care.
Andy

Mine is a facelift so removing the headlining is a ten minute job. My problem was that the foam had deteriorated such that mush was still attached to the (very thin, original biscuit). I did spend last weekend removing and cleaning it but my wife then took pitty and said just go get a new one, so I did. Local company to me in Kent, good product and easy replacement. happiness restored. Did take slightly longer to replace as "cut outs" for the visors are not done and more expensive as DIY bit a good alternative.
Nick