I am not sure what you mean by "Ian never worked for Aston Martin." In the article you cite he is credited with styling the DB7. He also was responsible for styling the DB9, Vantage, and Vanquish. For a short period of time he was design director at both Jaguar and Aston Martin. If he never did design work for Aston, he sure got a lot of credit for nothing!

 

When Ian added some modest touches to what was then called an Ftype- and became the Aston Martin, he worked for TWR (design).

I mean no disparagement whatsoever to Aston Martin, rather an appreciation for what we have. Aston was never ever even a company. Its contributed virtually nothing to the automotive world, not just in comparison to Jaguar but even Lada. It went bankrupt in 1924 and again in 26. Therein lies the problem, they never had any of the founder's direction, like McLaren or Lyons. And all that happened before the automotive revolution began. Since then its been an adopted child of many. Kinda like Jaguar was for a very brief period. But long after it had made its mark with several incredible cars.

 

And you're still wrong but won't admit it. These generation of cars were Ford corporate entities through and through. Sure there's Jaguar DNA on the surface but the guts aren't. I think they took all the engineering designs and threw them against the wall to see on what brands and models could use them. It's funny in the OP video, the Volvo window controls look very similar to what's in the XK. I remember reading on the LS forum that their suspension was designed by an F1 engineer so it's funny that so many Jags use the same suspension parts.

It all tally's up that our critically exclusive cars are really a hodgepodge of stock parts. That's my argument that your constant snobbishness about the Jaguar exclusivity really falls flat when you look hard enough. Personally I think having a ton of 'stock' parts is great. Makes getting spares a lot simpler and less expensive and that Ford choice to have Jaguars use stuff out of the parts bins is what gave them the reliability to get back in the game.

 

No problem, lets give you the benefit of the doubt that I am a delusional snob, and I have no right to enjoy my Jaguar the way you romanticize about a Ford Ranchero. Because a decade ago Ford completely got out of Jaguar, alternatively, was once in it very long ago for a very short time.

Why don't you do us all a favor and kindly point out some significant maintenance parts 5.0 that we can buy from the Ford part's counter. Just like the guy did in the video where he showed Aston owners can save a 50% by buying a Jaguar sourced Denso starter from Jaguar.

This way you can be more matter of fact and not hypothetical. Also you will have an opportunity to destroy my bigger delusion of Jaguar's fierce independence.

Do you know how I know you will fail? By your logic of using tried and tested, readily available, keep costs down, don't reinvent the wheel, Jaguar would have just used a bogus Ford small block turbo charged engine. They did the opposite, designed a motor from the ground up, 100% new, instead of grabbing engines sitting on the shelf in the same building that Ford wanted them to.

Why take the risk of unreliability, especially with Jaguar's history, why go through the herculean task and cost of tooling a new engine design and engine assembly plant design. Why anger your rulers.

When you can answer those questions, you will get it.

 

Also put oil on your list of things to find from a Ford supplier. Its been a real headache for me.

 

Queen & Country ... According to Wikipedia ...

"Ian Callum is a Scottish car designer who has worked for Ford, TWR, Aston Martin, and in 1999 became the Director of Design for Jaguar Cars. In 1991 he was appointed Chief Designer and General Manager of TWR Design. During this period he was partially responsible for designing the Aston Martin DB7, which is probably the design he is currently most famous for. He also designed the Aston Martin Vanquish, the V12-powered DB7 Vantage and Aston Martin's Project Vantage concept car as well as taking responsibility for a wide range of design programs for other TWR clients, including Volvo, Mazda and HSV."

 

Sinde- the order of event is the important thing. He worked for TWR (a Jaguar partner who helped with the design of the XJ220 supercar few years earlier) when Ian was given a Jaguar design and asked to add some clues that would make it an Ashton.

You can confirm with his own resume on Wiki. He has never worked directly for Aston.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Callum