‘It’s part of me’
Craig has found a real keeper. Here’s why…
In 2001, I was a young motoring journalist working in the big smoke, having got my ‘big break’ into motoring journalism through this very magazine.
It’s ironic, then, that the very cars I Ieft PC to write about are now practically classic themselves. As a Jaguar lover, I followed the X-TYPE from gestation to production. I went on the press launch. I got awkward answers to awkward questions from awkward executives when I asked why there wasn’t a diesel. I had a beer with the chief stylist and I sat next to Jaguar’s MD, Jonathan Browning, at dinner. I was 23, I was excited, and this was the first ever ‘big’ car launch I’d covered.
As a result, the Jaguar X-TYPE became a part of me. A small, but important chapter of my own life, and if there’s ever a reason to buy a car it’s because you have a small part of you personally invested in it. I bought a rusty one a couple of years ago. It was nice to revisit, but I promised myself that if I got another, it would be far better. I set myself a budget of £4k to buy the best.
But then this happened. Y589 AOG has had two owners before me, the first being the wife of the dealer principal at a Jaguar dealership. It’s 3.0-litre Sport (favourite spec), in black (favourite colour) with cream leather and wood trim (favourite combo), and under a grand (favourite price). Messages were exchanged with Graham, the seller. I told him why I wanted it, what the X-TYPE meant to me and how I’d been looking for ages for a good launch-spec AWD 3.0-litre, he almost gave it to me.