QOTD: If Money Is No Object, What Brand Are You Collecting?

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

A new year dawns and a lot of people are making resolutions about what they’d like to do or not do, depending on whether you’re talking about going to the gym or smoking. So, while most of those resolutions will come to naught — like they have for the past All Of The Years — I was thinking about something else that will never happen.

Follow me on a little flight of fantasy, and let’s see where we end up.

First, and most importantly: all fantasies have rules. All of you can assume only the following non-variable situation:

1. You’ve got unlimited money, for an unlimited number of vehicles to collect.

2. You’ve got unlimited storage for said vehicles, no matter their size, condition, or level of leakage or fire hazard.

3. You may only collect one brand.

Easy enough, right? But numbers one and two created a bit of conflict for number three in my mind. Most car guys/girls/nonbinaries are fans of select models across many brands. But that’s not the game today. So what have I got in my spotless fantasy garage, wherein the leather does not age, and it matters not if the electrics bear a Lucas crest?

Jaguar.

The leaping cat has earned its place in my fantasy garage. Their models across the decades specialize in looking great and being quick — a dignified conveyance of prestige, leather, and quiet. “Ah, yeah but…” I hear you saying, “those will break down a lot!” Reliability isn’t one of our three rules, and neither is fuel consumption, so get out of here with that. Instead, have a look at some of the things I’d put behind my hand-carved mahogany garage doors. I’ll try and limit it to just a few examples, otherwise I’ll spend all day talking about old Jags.

XKSS, 1957

From leftover D Type racers, Jaguar created a few XKSS examples available for sale to the public. The curves and speed were still there, except now it had a roof and bumpers. There were supposed to be 25 of them, but a fire at the factory meant only 16 made it into customer hands. It’s fantastic.

Mark X, 1961-1970

The beautiful Mark X was the first Jaguar sedan with modern aerodynamic styling. Compared to its Mark IX predecessor, it was much more tidy in shape and proportion. Gone were the pontoon rear fenders and tall trunk fit for train cases. Its elegant interior had burl wood and chrome for days.

XJ13, 1966

They only made one, and it never did what it was supposed to do: race at LeMans. Maybe that’s why it looks so much like a GT40. It’s probably not even for sale, but I’m sure it will be once enough zeroes are added to the check. Mine now.

XJ12C, 1975-1978

I’ve long desired this pillarless coupe (with the big 5.3-liter V12). I’m almost sure the build quality of this ’70s British vehicle is terrible, and I don’t care. The proportions and lines are spot on. Bonus points if it’s all black, or with a brougham-era vinyl top like the example above.

XJ220, 1992-1994

Pretty much a flop, as a recession and market index-linked purchase contracts added nearly £200,000 (roughly $387,000 USD in 1991) to the retail price between 1990 and 1992. Jaguar also announced it was building road versions of the XJR-9 with its 12-cylinder engine while trying to sell the XJ220. But would you just look at it, rear brake lamps from the Rover 200 and all.

XJ, 2007-2009

The final entry in my abridged garage is the last version of the XJ to maintain a link to traditional Jaguar saloon styling — the XJ308. Available in long wheelbase Super V8 guise, this modern interpretation of the classic Mark II would be the last to have the old DNA front and center. A horsepower figure of 390 was nothing to sneeze at, either.

You can have a lot of fun with unlimited money. Your turn, B&B.

[Image: XKSS; Jaguar Land Rover]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Tjh8402 Tjh8402 on Jan 05, 2017

    Corey, I'm assuming our daily driver has to be one of these vehicles?

    • See 9 previous
    • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Jan 05, 2017

      @Jagboi Yeah, I have that problem in cold weather even with V8 engines.

  • Raph Raph on Jan 05, 2017

    Ford - several Mustangs, a few super cars and gaggle of other models.

  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
  • Jalop1991 WTO--the BBB of the international trade world.
  • Dukeisduke If this is really a supplier issue (Dana-Spicer? American Axle?), Kia should step up and say they're going to repair the vehicles (the electronic parking brake change is a temporary fix) and lean on or sue the supplier to force them to reimburse Kia Motors for the cost of the recall.Neglecting the shaft repairs are just going to make for some expensive repairs for the owners down the road.
  • MaintenanceCosts But we were all told that Joe Biden does whatever China commands him to!
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