And on the Sixth Day

[J44EAG]

In my opinion, bling does not look very good on the more modern Jags. OK on classics but that is really as far as it should extend without extending into the world of pastiche.

Loads of this sticky backed plastic after market stuff appeared from around 1998. I fell victim to the fad for a while on my S-type and having got bored of the exaggerated retro look, tore it all off again transferring ownership to the local municipal dump.

AAJ and Mike H are better placed to advise on original mountings for number plates on the XK. Certainly on an S-type at the rear, removal of a number plate reveals a number of square and round stamped or drilled holes for plate mounting. Several of them would appear to be there for odd shaped plate mounting in foreign lands. The American market for instance often has square shaped number plates and that is catered for by some of the holes in the boot skin. Removal of a UK plate often reveals pieces of sticky tape applied at the factory to blank off unused holes and stop water entering the panel.

We all remember in the past that number plates might be fixed using a couple of self tapper screws with or without a black, yellow or white trim cap to tidy things up. Then along came double sided high adhesion tape and that made mounting easier, quicker and tidier than the screw method. The legacy of previous methods are what we see when a plate is removed.

Bling is still available online and via after market suppliers. The chrome plate surrounds used to run out at around £3 each from Lidl or Aldi! Ebay is awash with the stuff. R badges, small, medium and large leapers, door pillar trims, headlight surrounds, fog and indicator surrounds and ten metre lengths of plastic chrome strip. For £100 or less, you can turn a refined and nicely designed car into a Cadillac look alike. How i hate the stuff!

My S-type was designed fifteen years ago when the retro look was still just about stil in vogue. In 2014, to my eye it looks very naff. the sport models saved the visual looks somewhat by colour coding the chrome to body colour. That did improve matters. My silver S is now devoid of chrome trims. i went through the colour coded look but now have the original chrome covered in contrasting anthracite which makes the look unique to my car, more interesting and in my opinion more sporting, aggressive and better defined.

Pleased to hear you have bined your bling. On resale, I`m sure you will find an original looking car easier to sell on and will be more desirable to a dis concerning buyer. XK8 models are steadily increasing in desirability and select buyers will be looking for cars which have not been mucked about with.

Enjoy your car. The colour suits it well.

Mike K

[aaj]

On MY2002 there was a black painted steel mounting / surround riveted to the boot lid. The paint was of dubious quality & on my XK8 it has rusted & started to stain the paint on the boot lid. I removed it , inserted copper slip into each of the holes & covered them with insulation tape. There are also 2 poly inserts into the boot lid for mounting the Reg Plate. I assume the daunting task of accurately marking & drilling the Reg Plate means that they are frequently not used!

I remove the Reg plate each year to inspect the holes but have not seen any deterioration as yet. For a while I left it with just the Reg plate in place but a couple of years ago I bought one of the plastic chrome surrounds & I think it looks better as it keeps the Reg Plate flat & it also reduces the likelihood of the local yobs ripping the plate off the boot.

I believe the black surround/mounting was replaced in later years with one made from Stainless Steel.

AllanJ

[PTR200Jag]

aaj, that might explain the rust I could see on a number of XK8 I went to see before buying this one....in this case the chrome bling mount is quite thick and once the plate was on it "hangs" out of the recess in the boot.

When you say you bought a "surround" you mean literally that it is on the edge of the plate? the plate is still flat mounted to the boot?

I think I will try the direct on to the boot mounting first of all and see how it looks, good advice re the tape/copperslip .. simple solution without getting involved in filler and paint!

[Orkney]

Hi PTR,
The rear plate in my old XJ8 had a thin stainless surround, must be plenty of those for sale. Try Eurojag or Neville at Jag spares North East. Not looked closely at the Daimler yet, but will later.

Ian

[Orkney]

Just checked the Daimler,
It has the same stainless surround, so all XJ8's must be the same - plentiful supply for your XK8 then, but would that be more bling?

Ian

[Brakebuster]

I have several brand new genuine jaguar stainless surrounds for sale if anyone is interested ,

these have the polished stainless surround with black painted internal mounting section ( which is covered when the number plate goes in ) and are usually only used on the back of the car, not the front....

they were included in a bulk order I had some while back

I think Jag wanted £30 each for them ? but I will do em for a tenner each posted to JEC members

BB

[PTR200Jag]

I have several brand new genuine jaguar stainless surrounds for sale if anyone is interested ,

these have the polished stainless surround with black painted internal mounting section ( which is covered when the number plate goes in ) and are usually only used on the back of the car, not the front....

they were included in a bulk order I had some while back

I think Jag wanted £30 each for them ? but I will do em for a tenner each posted to JEC members

BB

Sent PM to you.

[PTR200Jag]

The number of holes in the boot have increased ! to 24 !!!

Some of which are manufacturer holes, and the rest, well no idea why, they are all random.






Plus the paint has blown around the top right corner to reveal a different colour underneath. this probably means this is a replacement second-hand boot lid



So some painting / sorting required when the warmer weather comes around for now I will have to do a temporary job in order to fit the new plate... but a new surround might help !!

[PTR200Jag]

Just checked the Daimler,
It has the same stainless surround, so all XJ8's must be the same - plentiful supply for your XK8 then, but would that be more bling?

Ian

Genuine bling I can deal with !!

[PTR200Jag]

Should have wonga now !
thanks

I have several brand new genuine jaguar stainless surrounds for sale if anyone is interested ,

these have the polished stainless surround with black painted internal mounting section ( which is covered when the number plate goes in ) and are usually only used on the back of the car, not the front....

they were included in a bulk order I had some while back

I think Jag wanted £30 each for them ? but I will do em for a tenner each posted to JEC members

BB

Sent PM to you.

[PTR200Jag]

I have several brand new genuine jaguar stainless surrounds for sale if anyone is interested ,

these have the polished stainless surround with black painted internal mounting section ( which is covered when the number plate goes in ) and are usually only used on the back of the car, not the front....

they were included in a bulk order I had some while back

I think Jag wanted £30 each for them ? but I will do em for a tenner each posted to JEC members

BB

Many thanks to you for supply of the surround, it's now on the car along with the new number plate, look loads better !