Today I went to meet a friend of mine for some coffee and a catch up as I've not seen her for about 8 months. Seeing as the weather was fair I pulled the cover off the XJ and set off to the coffee shop. The weather had changed to bright sunshine by the time I got there, and the Zircon Blue was really sparkling. I parked in an empty part of the car park, but where I could see her through the window and went in.

As I sat down I looked out at my car and noticed a man in his mid 60's looking closely at my car. He appeared to be an enthusiast as he was keeping a respectable distance from the car, but when he leaned close to look inside he checked nothing on his person was going to catch the car. After nearly 10 minutes he disappeared. I was at that coffee shop for about an hour and a half.

When I came to leave I went out to the car park, just as a nearly new Mercedes came swooping in and quite deliberately drove towards where I was parked. The same gentleman from before got out and stood looking at my car. Now curious I approached him and asked if I could help him.

He turned to me and said "I used to have one of these Jag's, I loved it to bits. I'd always had Jags's but I loved the V8 one so much I bought it after the lease ran out and kept it serviced at the dealer and everything. It never let me down and wanted for nothing. I'd forgotten how beautiful they were when they're looked after properly. My wife made me get rid of it in the end saying it looked too old, but when I came out earlier this was the first car I noticed in the car park."

I let him have a closer look and let him sit in, he was saying how much more comfortable it is than the Mercedes he was using. He asked could he start her up because he liked the sound the starter motor makes (so do I actually LOL ) and he remarked on how beautifully designed the interior was. I asked why he came back to look again, turns out he'd been on the way to the company he owns, but is semi retired. He'd met a client in the coffee shop and went on to the office to drop off his papers. He saw my car was still there and wanted to look again. I explained to him how I treat the car as a non daily driver and he decided right there and then he was going to follow my lead and get another to treat as a modern classic.

I asked why he got a mercedes and not another Jag. He said the X350 looked "fat" and "wrong" when he'd been driving sleek XJ's for 20 years and the XF was in it's early days with the bog eye headlights. He'd got a mercedes on a lease and just kept renewing the model as his wife liked them. I exchanged details with him and said I'd be happy to help him find another X308, he was happy with that.

It was nice that the guy was so impressed with my car, it was nice too that he wants to get another one to cherish again. I told him about this forum too, so maybe we'll see him here one day.

S.

 

Awesome sir ! I had a similar encounter refueling recently. A guy in a flatbed car transporter bellowed across the lot "What year ?!" then ended it "Beautiful !".

Even my son's coming around since the new paint lol.

 

My latest 'conversation' was at a set of lights... My Windows were down and next to me two Young migrants pulled up in a BMW M4. The passenger said 'Look at that heap of ****' (of course in German). I simply answered 'at least it belongs to me!'

Their faces!

 

:icon_attenti on:

 

I always get compliments from both young and old on both the X308 and the XJS, and when they ask the year of which ever car I have that day they are stunned when I tell them. I even had nice compliment from a guy I met (a business owner and now friend) who owns a nice Porsche.

 

This is a good example of today's mentality towards cars, the majority of people basically don't own the car. In most cases it's on Hire Purchase, Lease or a Motability scheme, and the car is basically owned by the dealership it came from. I own my cars, they are mine.

It's always nice to get admiring glances or comments from people although sometimes it can be overbearing sometimes, depending on what I'm driving. If I'm out in my Triumph I can't stop anywhere without someone trying to engage me in conversation or speak to me at lights. The Gent I spoke to the other day I made an exception for because he was clearly very serious about the car, he's already emailed me a couple of links to ask my opinion.

 

Herr in Germany, something like 75-85% of all NEW cars sold are company cars. The last 25-15% are privately owned. From them around 90% are financed (leasing/credit).

Both of my cars are mine. And even though one is a heap of scrap and the other is a beauty, I am proud of both. I would never want to change again...

 

That is a nice story, Stu.
Not the reason why we maintain, or even restore our cars, but always good as some extra motivation.