One aspect of driving these cars I always enjoy is seeing the reactions of pedestrians and other drivers. My 10 minute drive home from the store today was special

• as I approached the car in the parking lot another old fart is standing there admiring the beast - "What year is she?" " '65" "She's beautiful." - I almost hit him backing up, not realizing he's still standing there taking pictures with his phone
• 3 young boys walking home from school - probably never saw a Mark 2 - 3 big smiles and 2 thumbs up - all spun around to watch as I passed
• while stopped by a 20-something flagman controlling traffic at a construction site, he suddenly turns around and points at me - big smile and thumbs up - big smile and hand patting his heart as I pass by
• wondering why the driver in front of me is wandering all over the road, I realize he's holding up a smart phone taking a selfie. As I'm pondering when and where I might have the opportunity to pull along side and chew him out for using a phone while driving, I realize he's taking pictures of the Jag. Good taste but not much sense.

As new cars seem to look more and more alike (even the exotics) these old Jags become more and more special - not only for the enthusiast but also the general public. Using one as a daily driver is a constant reminder of this, and a genuine treat. Let's hope the environmental lobby doesn't legislate us off the road any time soon.

 

you won't catch me in a Tesla! Glorified Golf Carts !

 

These are some of the pleasures of these great cars. At one end of the scale is headlight flashing and waving at fellow owners. That's normally safe, though there was a near collision in Cologne. At the other extreme, a young lady in a car park in France seemed intent on seduction (of the car). The old Mk2 ignored her with English aplomb.

 

Yes ~ They certainly attract attention. Sometimes almost in excess. A chap in a Range Rover persistently chased me down the other day until I stopped. He just wanted to take a closer look at the car & have a chat. We had a very pleasant chat & then it was out with his phone and many pictures.

 

Most new vehicles have too many lumps, bumps and geometric shapes on them to give the tin-foil like sheet-metal rigidity.
It makes new vehicles very busy and unattractive, at least for me.

Our Jaguars recon back to a time when styling was more important, although aerodynamics did play a huge part, I think that was second place on the table. Just my opinion.

 

I show mine off possibly more regularly than most as I used it as a wedding car most weekends but as soon as the wedding is over I remove the ribbons along with the jacket and tie because I love the looks you get from people driving home. Appreciating the car for what it is, a 1960s sports saloon rather than a wedding car.

 

Doug,
Yes I agree it is a cool to see the head-turns, smiles, thumbs up, and especially when they are amazed at how this old car just smoked their new car in the dust I have been driving my Jag daily and in this short handful of years I have exceeded 200,000 daily driven miles rain or shine. Doug your Jag has some good power so I hope your putting it to good use and show that an old 1960's car can out perform many of todays new cars. Because my 3.8s Jag needs to be the reliable daily driver and my never satisfied need for just a bit more performance, I am going to pull the engine out in a couple of weeks and do a quality rebuild.

I am excited as I am rebuilding the aluminum block LS 5.3 with forged internals, roller rockers, ported heads, a new bigger intake manifold, and I am going to do a refresh of the paint while the engine is being rebuilt. I should have the car back around December. As you know my Jag will do 0-60 in 4.0 seconds so the added new horsepower should make it easily do sub 4 seconds as it should be putting down around 500 HP; if your car does not scare you a little then you do not have enough horsepower I am going to improve the gaps around the hood and the respray should give it a better shine than before and turn a few more heads than it already does...

 

Nigel Thorley has a story about a time when he was using his own XJ12 alternately with an older R-R Shadow and the reactions the two cars provoked. While the Jaguar always received friendly admiration, driving the R-R made you a capitalist ba***ard. This was in spite of the Shadow being worth a lot less than the XJ.

 

My other car is an RR Silver Shadow, its generally well recieved by folk.

My Healey 100 drew a lot of attention, all favourabke.

I've only driven the 240 about 10mtrs so far, so time will tell for me.

 

Nigel's experience was a few decades ago. The Shadow's popular image has had time to change and, probably thanks to enthusiast owners like yourself, much for the better.