Celebration wheels

[markastbury]

I have just bought a 1995 Celebration convertible in excellent condition (under 10,000 miles from new). It has, as you would expect, a perfect set of the standard Celebration wheels.

I am however not a great fan of these wheels and want to change them .... if I can find something else I like .... however they need to have been an option in 1995 as I want to keep everything original.

Does anyone have details of the wheel options available on the Celebration in 1995 ?

[davidr]

Mark
I have a brochure from the period and it lists the wheel options as the diamond-turned Aerosport as standard and a 5-spoke chrome wheel as an option. I've added a couple of pictures from the brochure below.
Hope that helps
David

[raysearles]

The chrome celebration wheels are particularly rare - rocking horse doo doo territory. i had a friend who imported an American Celebration convertible that had the chrome wheels but they were shot - to refurb he was told he would have to pay nearly £500 per wheel ( and nobody would do it anyway) so he ended up going the non-chrome route.

If you do find a set of Chrome wheels in good condition they would be worth a lot of money I suspect!

[ptjs1]

As Ray says, perfect condition chrome 5-spokes are very hard to find and also extremely difficult to find someone on the UK who will restore them properly. Chroming companies in the UK seem to run a mile from re-chroming wheels!

Even the original ones were manufactured in the US. I suspect that it was only the American predilection for chrome wheels that justified them being provided as an option by Jaguar originally.

There are a few companies in the US who will sell sets of them on an exchange or outright sale basis but they are becoming more difficult to find.

Wheels are a very personal taste. I quite like the Aerosport Celebration wheels. as they are very similar to the XJR-S wheel. If you're not that keen on them, how about having them refinished in a more contemporary finish like a gunmetal colour or similar?

Although not original equipment for a Celebration, the 5-spoke non-grooved wheel was fitted to the pre-Celebration AJ16-engined XJS. In this fitment, the front face was diamond-cut and then lacquered. When finished nicely, they look very good. It would be much easier to source a set of these and then get them properly refurbished. (Most cheap companies just powder-coat them rather than the proper diamond-cut finish).

This is a photo of a finished diamond-cut rim. See my album "Wheel refurbishment" for further pics.





Good luck with your choice.

Paul

[macmotors]

Hi Paul

Can I ask who you used to refurb those wheels as I have two sets that need refurbing

Regards
Charlie

[dhdove]

Mark

Many congrats on your purchase, how lovely! And welcome to the XJS Bulletin Boards.

As stated wheel choice is a personal thing but my faves are the five spokes as well. Apart from their looks they are very easy to clean which certainly is not the case with the Celebraton wheels!

If the link works......here's my last XJS with five spokes....

http://img.gg/uroDQNH

Best
TonyS