An anecdote on all that has gone into getting our car to this point and how we have much more to appreciate.



A Jaguar XK150, when released the fastest production car in the world- did 0-60 in 5 seconds! And as essential as tailored clothing to being fabulous.

"When under contract by MGM during the 1950s, Sir Roger could be found wafting around the California mountains in his 1956 Jaguar XK150. Having trouble with your Jaguar? Well, you and the British king of cool have something in common. Driving his XK150 to the set every day, it started to develop the unpleasant habit of stalling and stopping. Degrading to the point where starting the big cat became a battery flattening experience, Sir Roger turned up at the Jaguar dealership on Hollywood Boulevard asking for assistance. After being told they couldn’t look at it for at least two days, Moore threatened to drive it through the forecourt glass wall to help with their ‘publicity’. Something he later helped AMC with during The Man With The Golden Gun. Unsurprisingly, his Jaguar was serviced pronto and never proved a nuisance again."


A Jaguar in the 50s in California was as adventurous as taking Rolls to the desert; a small price in comparison to the reward.

 

RIP. Simon Templar was one of my favorite TV characters when I was a tad younger. Roger was my favorite Bond as well. Go ahead, flame away

 

I could never past seeing him in his first role for the BBC in the 50's:

 

The Volvo P1800 in the Saint was a decent choice

 

Legend has it that they used the Volvo because Jaguar had refused to loan them an E-Type.

 

This could easily have been the Jaguar Advert. 'This is the Jaguar man, you too can be him for lot less than you think'

The persona that Roger embraced was very much the one at the core of Bill Lyons and Jaguar cars.
All things can be done with losing composure as a gent.

Had being a gentleman not fallen out of vogue, due to class warfare*, Jaguar would have reigned supreme. Because unlike other cars Jaguar was the only car manufacturer that elevated an average man to all he could be. He could have it all, best looking car, the fastest car, luxurious and becoming- all while being affordable. Other cars of the time you had to be rich and old to own and did little for one's sense of self.

I submit to you below one ad from the era. Note how the other lesser cars were downright unobtainable to the masses.

 

 

*The class warfare was really one catered by the manufacturers; they figured it was more profitable to let a person be where he is than elevating manufacturing standards to meet a demanding society.

 

I will never be this cool. They don't make them like that anymore. Rest in peace.

 

I think that E-Type must have been a 1968 as I recall my 66 had 265 HP with the 3 SU's. I think 68 took the headlight lens off and went to 2 zenith carbs.

 

There isnt a car today that meets the following criteria:
Faster than a 911
Most beautiful car on the road
Luxurious
The coolest car on the road ubiquitous amongst celebrities
Grand Tourer
Affordable
Formal and Casual
Flashy and Conspicuous
Great gas mileage.

Plenty that meet few of those points, none that check all the boxes. Which is precisely the point, anyone can make a car that does one thing well at the sake of compromising something else.

 

The only point I contest is Affordability assuming you are talking about the E-Type. Converts are out of sight price wise .

 

I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know him in the Bahamas in the late 60's. We were both at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island with our families over a spring break. his children were about the same age as my two girls and his kids played with mine on a daily basis.

One day my kids brought his son to me, he was crying like a baby. It turned out that the boy had somehow gotten a thorn in the bottom of one of his feet. I was able to remove it and douse it with alcahol. Later that day He and his Italian then spouse came by to thank me and my then wife and invite to share cocktails with them. We spent some time with them for each of the remaining days of our stay and he taught me how to play Backgammon and proceeded to beat me up pretty good at the game on a daily basis.

I ran into him at a stage play several years later and he greeted me like an old friend. A true gentlemen with lots of class. He will be missed.

 

Great story!

 

Hi, are you able to tell me what publication this picture comes from? Many thanks, Ewan.

 

That's a stock photo, no telling unless someone in here happens to have read it.
This thread is also four years old.

 

Thanks Cee Jay. Appreciate you replying. I wonder if 'Queen and Country' is still looking into this forum. Their photo looks like one they have taken from a book in which this Roger Moore picture appears. I have seen various versions of the picture and of his anecdote about driving into the dealers in Beverly Hills, and I even found the photographer was apparently Eric Skipsey. But not the name of the book!
BTW has anyone else noticed that this photo of a LHD XK150 OTS is described as being from 1956, when the car was not built until 1958?!!

 

Queen & Country is (thankfully) now inactive. It would probably be best to let that sit right where it is.

This link MAY help you, but then again it may not...

Image Search for Sir Roger Moore via TinEye

 

You sir are a star! The last picture on the list there shows the book open, and clicking on it took me to the name of the book. For anyone who wants a copy, it's called "Stars and cars" by Tony Nourmand (Hardback), and there are plenty of copies on eBay from about £5.50, so I have just bought one. Now we just need to find out what happened to Roger Moore's LHD XK150 OTS as it seems to have disappeared, along with Clint Eastwood's car of the same model and very similar early age.

 

Glad to help.
Now here I have a little suggestion which will help satiate my vain side, and a good idea for all on this forum....... If you find a comment helpful, funny or deserved of some sort of praise..........