1997 JAGUAR XJ6 3.2 SPORT
YNO may not have piled on the miles in quite the way that I’d envisaged, back in January, but it hasn’t been sitting idly in the garage, twiddling its thumbs, either. I managed to squeeze in a road trip to Norfolk a couple of weeks before lockdown hit – don’t be too impressed... it was more luck than judgement – and I’ve needed little excuse to forgo the daily modern come ‘Big Shop day’ when weather and circumstances have allowed and do it Jag-style instead.
A friend and I even managed to get ourselves sufficiently organised to enjoy a socially-distanced 18-cylinder lads’ night out deep in the Lincolnshire countryside, back in May – him in his Ferrari and me in the Jag – though I certainly paid for the spirited drive home by having to jetwash platoons of squashed insects off the windscreen and grille two days later!
Plans for when lockdown is finally eased? Many and varied, but one thing I particularly want to do is take YNO to its inaugural (in my ownership, at least) Jaguar Breakfast Meet at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon. I couldn’t make it the first postlockdown one on 12 July, and won’t be able to get to the next one on in early August, either, so I’m now aiming for the planned ‘Jaguars at Gaydon’ meet on 5 September. Spending a Saturday giving my car a good 200-mile run, ogling all manner of Jags and then strolling around the museum sounds like my idea of heaven.
I’ve decided to join one of the owners’ clubs, too. I’m still torn between the ‘Big Two’, but I bought the XJ6 to drive, not just to polish it, so this seems like a good call.
Incidentally, there’s a plaque in my office at home that reads: ‘The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.’ And since I didn’t take either of my classics for granted, pre-lockdown, I’ve got some time-wasting of my own to catch up on. I’ll see you out there!
OWNED SINCE January 2020 // MILEAGE SINCE LAST REPORT 153 // TOTAL MILEAGE 50,521 // LATEST COSTS Nil
’I bought the XJ6 to drive, not just to polish it, so joining one of the clubs seems a good call’