Dimensions of a MKII Jaguar?

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Andy Dingley decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Don't think so, I think the Mercury that's Mondeo related is Mondeo based.

Which is loosely Mondeo based

The S type is a Lincoln LS in drag, allegedly.

No "allegedly" about it, though the LS has a different front suspension (struts rather than wishbone) so that the 4.6 V8 and 4.0V6 can fit.

Ford also sells a (soon to be dropped) "Thunderbird" based on the LS platform. For those who don't know, it's a soft and bland 50s retro-styled Thunderbird lookalike. It's horrible, and has not sold at all well.

It's interesting that a company like BMW can persuade the sheeple that "this is the new Mini," when companies like Ford can fail so dismally with the same nostalgia thing. Don't underestimate the power of good marketing.

The Mini was an all new design, and a delight to drive.

Trouble with companies like Ford is that they want to share platforms and engines etc across all their ranges - and charge premium prices for the prestige brands they've bought.

BMW in general doesn't share platforms and engines with anyone else - with some exceptions. Although they do sell their engines to others.

Yes, but they made it look like the original Mini and then successfully marketed to the sheeple mostly on that basis. That was the point I was making, not the car's design basis.

Think the wording is 'it took design clues' from the original Mini - as Jaguar did with the S-Type and Rover with the 75.

And of the 3, the Rover is the most successful to my eyes.

The Mini looks ok, but is simply too large externally. Probably because it's impossible to build a car the size of the original and pass safety regs.

Agree. Lots of P4/P5 design cues, some more from the P6 - and to my eyes at least a deal of Alvis influence in there as well. Nice. The S-type doesn't do it as well, to my eye.

It's more of an Allegro than a Mini, size- and looks-wise.

;-)

The Allegro Estate was rather a decent vehicle. Mind you, I quite liked the Maxi, too.

I've always been rather fond of the Maxi, too. An honest old truck. There's still a late 1750HL in daily use around here, tastefully bedecked in pale metallic blue and rust.

I hope I didn't come across as sneering at the Allegro by comparing it to BM's zero-series, but the latter is certainly too big to be a mini and it's not pretty enough to be a 1100/1300.

The Ian Callum rework of the S-type (never manufactured) did homage to the MkII perfectly and succeeded in having an air of orginality. His R6D6 Jaguar Coupé was also stunning and managed to evkoe and update those earlier jaguars. Sadly since both would require new platforms rather than a rehash of an extant Ford neither got made.

OTOH the Aston Martin DB7 is IMO a car that works well, despite being a rehash of a Jaguar XJS with a Ford Mondeo derived engine.

Yup. My niece has two 1300s.

However, the fact remains that they couldn't be made today. They'd never get near passing statuary crash testing etc.

And the 'new' Mini does is pretty close to the old one in driving pleasure. When that pleasure was a new original Mini when just released. Later Minis just seemed to get worse and worse, compared to the competition.

Well, yes. Apart from the fact that it's tiny inside, and has a small boot

- given its overall length.

People who do that (or at least my friend with the Diablo, anyway) have their luggage FedExed ahead. On a longer trip they have two sets of luggage and leapfrog it.

Possibly. But the Diablo and the Jaguar ain't exactly in the same class.

We were talking about the DB7.

No, the Jag is reliable!

Dave Plowman (News) ( snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I've just got back from a few days in Rome - and the current Lancias are a complete object lesson in how to update retro heritage design cues - especially the utterly gorgeous Thesis.

Jings, I thought the current lancia line up to be the most repellently ugly bunch of vehicles I've ever seen. Especially the Thesis and that monstrous thing that looks like a squashed Mercedes S-class.

My original post has dropped off the top of the newsreader's list now, but if anyone was interested, the MKII Jag I was on about sold for an unbelievable £25,000. It was at an auction, so that was the highest bid price with sales tax, etc still to pay...

Needless to say my Dad is not the owner of a MKII Jag :-)

But it was mint. Original UK car, 12k from new, one owner since '66, every piece of paperwork (MoT's tax discs from new, etc) and unrestored. But £25k!!??!?!?

No idea who bought it.

-- Howard Rose

1966 VW Beetle 1300 Deluxe 1962 Austin Mini Deluxe 1964 Austin Mini Super Deluxe (cars on website)