Just got back from a short vacation to the east coast and on the way to work this morning stopped at a local gas station to fill the beast. While I was there another guy drives up to the pump and I notice he is looking at my car. He gets out and just stands in front of my car staring. He then asks what year it is (he had an English or Australian accent) and I told him 2005. So he says how beautiful the lines are and then goes on to say how Jaguar spoiled the looks with the newer generation. He went on about the perfect proportions and curves of our generation and again lamented on how the newer ones lost the elegant lines. As I drove away he continued to stare and waved telling me to enjoy the ride.

Doug

 

Very good Doug. I can say that I do not disagree with the stranger with the English or Australian accent.

 

I know you drove off with a smile as I would!
But owning an XF also, I have to disagree with him! If you put the newer styles beside anything in their class, they still have an attention to detail and curves the other brands simply don't. Change is good and it all can be traced through the previous generations of our cars. Jaguars all have a soul that other brands simply can't capture no matter how hard they try!!

 

I've heard similar compliments... how the design is sort of timeless. I agree that the new styles are more "trendy" and won't look good years from now. Too many cars these days are retro-ish (not timeless - not new... not really good for anything!) or "different to be different. I feel honored to drive an xk8!

 

Agreed. The Tata-era Jaguars look like Buick/Lexus/Volvo mishmashes to me. We have zero interest in ever owning one....

 

Nice one Doug..........a real nice start to the day!

 

Our cars are rare, while the new XK's are all over the place. It is not uncommon for drivers of the new XK to give me a "thumbs-up" when passing by.

 

Owning a jaguar pretty much since I was 17and now I'm 48, I've noticed a love hate with the brand from people and it usually is directly associated with their age and or financial situation. My friends, my age or younger, for the last 10 years or so said they didn't care for the pre XF jaguars due to their dated style. Don't get me wrong, I love all the models, but they were becoming dated!! My older clients, late 50's or older, typically don't like the new cars due to their lack of "jaguar-ness".
I fought the new XF for several years but once I got behind the wheel and gave it a chance, and saw the heads turn, I realized the CAT hasn't lost a thing!
And remember, when the first XJ6 came out, it got the same initial response. It didnt look like a jag!!
And if there weren't new xk's everywhere, jag may have eventually folded!!

 

Actually many of the newer models still stand out from the crowd (XK, XJ) and even the XF is nice looking and different enough from all of the other similar Asian and Euro models. But there is just something more iconic about the XK8/XKR that puts it in the same class as the E-type and perhaps the 1963-67 Corvettes. By that I mean a design that comes along very rarely and just gets everything right in terms of lines and proportions and that brings a smile every time you see one. To me the XK8/XKR was revolutionary and iconic while the XK is basically evolutionary.

Doug

 

I agree mostly, but I think that Jaguar might have done better with our cars if they had given it a smaller boot and thus a slightly smaller rear overhang. On the convertible it's not bad, but on the coupe, you can really tell how it kinda protrudes.

I hate golf.

 

I think that in some measure, what is at play here is the difference between those of us who are old enough to have appreciated the XKE for its phenomenal look and function in its time and the recognition of how well that our first series XK's picked up on and extended the look of that classic car when it came out.

I think that that link is missed by the younger generation who never really saw XKE's on the street and fell in love with them as teenagers. To many of us who did, I think we see, not only our XKR's/8's when we look at them but enough of the XKE to remind us of when we lusted after XKE's as youngsters.

I know that I can't speak for everyone, but from the first time I saw an XKE up close, I wanted one dearly. Of course, now, one of those in good condition is VERY expensive, $40,000+, and the XK's that we have are much more drivable and not nearly as hard to keep running. It's a substitute, but a good one. Anyway, that's my take on it.

 

And Kevin D wins the cigar!!! I was maybe 11 or 12 when I lived in New York and attended the 1961 New York Auto Show. That was when I saw the XKE and was the first time I am aware of that I really lusted after an automobile. My dad bought me the souvenir program for the show (wish I still had that) and remember constantly turning to the page that had the XKE and reading the specs (somehow I have a vivid memory of reading 265 horsepower). I thought that when I was old enough to drive this would be the car I would get.

Never happened--my first car in 1967 was a 1963 Pontiac Catalina passed along to me by my parents. Interesting we had by then moved to California and I recall that my uncle, who lived a couple of blocks away, had an XKE coupe that was probably bought new at the time. I think he let me sit in it once.

Doug

 

The compliment that Doug received was very nice, but very commonplace. There is virtually not a day that I haven't driven somewhere and received a similar comment. Take, yesterday, while parking on a major boulevard (Ventura) in the San Fernando Valley, a woman walking down the street came over to tell me "how exceptionally beautiful" my car was. This is a daily occurrence not an occasional one. It happens at the market, at the bus stop, in the gas station, with the valet at a restaurant. Now, I like very much the current generation XK series, the coupe more than the convertible, and while both look more modern than ours, not as classic. I agree that those of us a little older who had our collective breath taken away by the looks of such cars as the XKE, or the mid-sixties Corvettes, or in my case the De Tomaso Mangusta and Pantera of the late sixties and early seventies, or by the Miura, we find the sensuous fluidity of such cars to be the epitome of classic car design. The younger generation appreciates more angular, harder edge design, different era, different criteria. That said, these cars after nearly 18 years since their introduction still appear stunning as do other classics like the Daytona Ferrari, the Ford GT40, Dino Ferraris, ...
I also find that newer cars don't have the simplicity nor the purity of design that older ones do. New sports or GT cars have to have lots of body surface scoops, and vents, trims, and angular bends and dips in order to project a more "macho," testosterone injected look rather than the fluid design of the earlier classics. I won't be giving mine up anytime soon.

 

Ted mentioned the next two cars I lusted after--Ferrari Dino and Di Tomaso Pantera. Naturally I knew I could never afford any of these at the time but I had myself convinced that I would win a Pantera. It was at one of the LA Auto shows in the early 1970s and there was some raffle that I bought tickets for where you had your choice of a few cars, one of which was the Pantera. As with all raffles or lotteries the minute I bought a ticket I was already playing out in my head what I will do with the winnings (that never came to fruition).

Doug

 

Hey Doug,
Since you're so close to me and a Pantera is one of your dream drives, why don't you come and pick it up and take it for a day. I so rarely drive it now since I got the XKR, that it just sits and collects dust. Or maybe, at the next of the supercar drives which I believe is 10/26, we can take one of our XKR's and the Pantera and take turns driving each of them on different legs of the drive. Let me know, it would be fun. (For your viewing pleasure, see below)

 

Hey Ted,

Would love to take you up on it but have to admit I don't drive a stick. Back in the 1970s a guy I worked with had one of those Fiat 128 sedans that were so popular back then and he very patiently taught me to drive a stick. I finally became relatively proficient but that was the last time I drove a stick. So you may need to chauffeur me around

Doug

 

I totally agree. As a matter of fact, my father collected cars in the 70's and 80's and his collection included XKE, RR silver cloud, Dino Ferrari, Porsche 356, Lotus Elite, many others, and the XKE and Dino were my favorite to drive. When he passed way, my brother got the lion share of the cars and since sold the Dino even in its poor condition, for over 70k.
I love owning both my Jaguars and get comments with both. Almost every time I drive either!! My best friend has Mercedes and I've never heard anyone say squat about hers! It's a new E class. Infact my best compliment may have been when we both met for lunch, and three people went crazy over my XF and no one noticed her new E class sitting beside me. She was noticeably miffed!! Lol
Ahh, good times!!

 

You guys are bringing back memories! I had a 63 XKE in the late 60's early 70's. I loved that car despite it's faults. "Spooned" my wife in that car. I sold it due to increasing family size but never lost the lust for a Jag. So 45 years later I have an XK8.

 

Ted, you are a generous man. My two other dream cars are also the Dino and Pantera. Dino's got out of my price range (so close back in the mid eighties until the kids came along) and a Pantera up the street from me was nixed by more level-headed wife. So.....having owned and destroyed a '69 E-Type, I jumped at the chance to get my '99. No research, just wanted another Jag convert. with the bonus that there was a back seat for the dog. Really happy, although looking at your Pantera makes me drool. The wheels are classic.

 

I truly miss my 1974 Datsun 260Z. First new car I ever owned. Gorgeous proportions and lines. Kept it for nearly 13 years and 250,000 miles. Wish I had it back today in showroom condition....