Did any XJ6/12 have picnic table in the back of the front seats? What do I look for? Is that a special back or whole different seat? In other words can I retro fit a set in my car?

 

No, no tables on the seat backs, even in the SIII Vanden Plas or the Daimler Double Six. It is doubtful that seats from an XJ40, X300, or X308 or X350 (those are all later XJ models) would be direct fits. The seat back panels were also entirely different in shape from the Series III seat backs, so no easy conversion there.

 

Thank you. Not the answer I wanted but I accept your information.
It’s going in a series 1 XJ6 (1972 ) that is giving up its 4.2 engine in favor of a V12 so originality isn’t at all critical.
That beautiful V12 will look as it Sir William intended. The stupid A/C compressor will come out of the valley and a modern replacement will be mounted on the side. Right above a modern alternator.
I think I’ll retain the carbs, but if I can, fit 4 SU HD8’s eliminating the dog leg. Just like Huffacker engineering did with their XK-E to race against Group 44 in the national run offs. Reportedly good for an Extra 50 hp.
Yes the Engine will probably need to be lowered, to get the carbs under the bonnet. requiring me to carve out some of the front crossmember to clear the pan.
As a race car fabricator I’m pretty good at making things fit and work. My only concern is will it look good when finished. So if there are a pair of seats with the picnic trays? I’d like to take a shot at it.
Do you know of anything that might fit?

 

Years ago I was selling the seats out of an XJ40 Vanden Plas (with the tray tables) and had a few inquiries about whether they could fit in a Series I, II or III. I did a little research out of curiosity and came across some forum posts from people who had swapped seats from an XJ40 and an X300 into a Series I, II or III car, primarily Series III I think. It certainly was a project, but doable if you had the patience and commitment. I found an old email where I was passing on some the forum links to a potential buyer, and have included them below if you want to read up. If you're only interested in changing the front seats in order to have tray tables and leave the rear seat as is, that would shrink the scope of the project, although I suppose the seat style would not match. Some of the photos in the links are no longer active unfortunately. I ended up selling the seats to someone who was putting them in something other than a Jaguar, I can't recall what it was.


Forum excerpts and links:

As far as fitting the XJ40 Seats into an SIII, here's a quick assessment.

Front seats: The actual seat bottom cushion (the part you sit on without the motor or frame) can be removed from the XJ40 seat frame and is an easy swap into the frame of the SIII seat bottom. Some people have just swapped the front seat XJ40 bottom in to their SIII front seat frame and had it dyed to match the seat back. The XJ40 Vanden Plas pattern is similar to the SIII VDP pattern but not identical.

If you want to swap the full front seats in, the X40 VDP seats sit higher than the SIII seats due to the electric motor in the frame. The front of the front seats of the SIII models sit on rectangular piece of metal that sits across the floor. That piece has to be cut out or modified to allow the XJ40 seat frame to sit low enough in the car. There's a link to photos from the jag-lovers website below showing this done in order to insert 1995 Jaguar X300 seats. The

Rear seats: The bottom of the rear seat is a direct fit with no modifications required. The backrest of the XJ40 rear seat is a little wider than the SIII rear seat but "you can cut a small piece of metal out of the frame, and the backrest will squeeze in".

Photos of X300 seats being fit and modifications to the crossmember/rectangle.
http://www.jag-lovers.org/snaps/snap...?id=1235321003

simple swap of the bottom front seats and bottom of rear seat:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj6-xj12-series-i-ii-iii-16/your-seats-sagging-152734/#post1470327

Forum member commenting on his experience:

https://forums.jag-lovers.com/t/xj-xj40-seats-into-85-s3/203887

[xj] XJ40 seats into 85 S3 - XJ - Jag-lovers Forums
[xj] xj40 seats into my series III - XJ - Jag-lovers Forums

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj6-xj12-series-i-ii-iii-16/series-3-seats-211497/#post1998918

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...5/#post2096763

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj6-xj12-series-i-ii-iii-16/series-3-seats-211497/#post1998918

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...7/#post1624072

 

That is really great! Thank you! So kind of you to show all those details. Saves me from having to do a lot of trial fitting and trail & error.
This site has some great people who really know how to work on our Jaguars.

 

the 1960's MK-X and 420-G had wonderful picnic tables at the back of the front seats. The seats in those models are quite wide, being that the cars are super wide themselves. Some jokes call the MK-X "the XJ with the air let out".

Worth investigating if the front seats might fit in the XJ.

 

That's what inspired me to want picnic tables. But just looking at them I’m sure they are too wide.

 

the seats might he too wide, but maybe the picnic tables can be adapted to XJ seats.

I adapted XJ front and rear Headrests to the seats of my '65 S type. Took a lot of work but I got it done.

 

The X300 and X308 cars have seat frames with attaching points for the tray hinges, which I doubt a Series 1-3 car has. There is also an attaching point for the small trim piece that goes on the seatback above the table tray.

If you're taking table trays from a wrecking yard, don't forget that upper trim piece. The veneers are all from the same tree and book matched, so a trim piece from another car won't match.

 

it almost looks like a a complete bolt-on assembly, never een one in person.