Modern Jaguars are less fun to drive but could well become classics in the distant future, according to one of the world’s leading Jaguar restoration specialists.
“Less fun to drive? Yes. As far as I’m concerned they are,” explained Nick Goldthorp, Managing Director of Jaguar restoration specialist Classic Motor Cars, based in Shropshire. “If you ask the next generation they’ll probably say they are more fun to drive, but if you get out of any modern car, they’re fast and they go around corners and they stop.
“You never get out of a modern car feeling ‘well, that was good fun to drive’, whereas with an E-Type or an XK, the driver has to put a lot more effort into making the car go around corners properly. So you get a much greater feeling of driving the car.”
So are there any current Jaguars that have been built in the last decade that could – in 50 or 60 years from now – become known as ‘classic cars’?
“Yes, I’m sure there will be,” Mr Goldthorp added. “It’s difficult when you’re born in a certain era and you grow up and get to like a certain type or certain period of cars and I think that’s where you are. And then the next generation come along and they’ve moved on a step and they find the later cars more classic than I would.
“Most of the current Jaguars are just production cars as far as I’m concerned but I can see that some of the convertible XJ-S cars have the following now and probably the XKs but it’s probably going to be some way down the line.
“And there’s a whole new classic car restorable that comes along that will be much more inclined towards repairing electronics on modern cars because the bodies tend to stay much more rust-free than they were in the ‘50s and ‘60s. So I think they’ll be a new period of engineer putting right all the electronics on the later cars.”
Handling ‘electronics’ on a classic car does not sound too glamorous but that is the way the world is heading and while most vintage car engineers are likely to keep to the tradition of restoring ‘true classics’, others may have to adapt and learn all about electronics and modern cars to ensure the supercars of today are still running in decades to come.
But how hard can it really be to restore a classic Jaguar? Quite challenging, says Nick Goldthorp.
“The most challenging thing is finding quality of the parts that you have to go out and buy – good quality parts to screw onto a car. If I can give you an example, normally, when we restore a Jaguar E-Type, we anticipate spending 1,500 man hours restoring the car. Now, I’ve worked out over the years that if we could go out and buy good quality parts that we could actually bring into the company and screw onto the car, rather than buy something that you have to fiddle with, we could save about 500 hours on a restoration.”
That is 30 per cent of the cost of labour on a restoration which could be saved – a huge amount of money for cash-strapped customers.
Responding to a question on if Jaguar recognise the classic car market as having huge potential for them, Mr Goldthorp said: “They do make a few parts and they are trying to make more but they have been very slow in understanding that there is money to be made on the classic car side and they haven’t invested money in retooling, for example.
“They’re in an ideal position to do that because they still have most of the original drawings available. So at the moment, they are looking at ways of funding the Jaguar heritage side and that would be a great way of doing it.”
Related Articles // More Like This Investing in Classic Cars: the view from the world’s leading classic Jaguar restoration specialist Classic cars are prestigious, classy and exciting. A $16.3m Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, an $11m Ford GT40, a $3.7m Jaguar C-Type and a $3.7m Aston Martin DB3S – just some of the expensively priced vint 1 « Previous ArticleNext Article » News 24/7 MotorTrades Insight are now official news providers for NewsNow. Top Stories // This Week Pepe Reina set to splash out on new Ferrari or Lamborghini after shock loan move to Napoli. Liverpool legend Pepe Reina could be set to splash out on a brand new top-of-the-range Ferrari or Lamborghini, after his shock loan move to Napoli. The Spanish international, who has been loyal... Tottenham Hotspur's Roberto Soldado set to buy Aston Martin Volante to celebrate £26.4m move as Spurs aim to win Pr. Roberto Soldado has been signed to move to North London and join Tottenham Hotspur next season for a bargain £26.4m, but he'll be aiming to win more than simply titles and screamer goals. Having sco... AA president Edmund King on deadly potholes. The AA’s president Edmund King had his Mercedes E-Class wrecked by potholes earlier this year, as he was filling it with petrol in the Hertfordshire town of St Albans, when the whole front of the es... Office of Fair Trading slammed for refusing to investigate UK oil prices. The Road Haulage Association has said it is ‘disappointed’ at the refusal by the Office of Fair Trading to consider an investigation into the issue of UK oil pricing.Such was the strength of feeling... 1965 Aston Martin DB5 exceeds estimate to fetch £374,000 at Silverstone auction. A host of cars with ‘star’ appeal helped Silverstone Auctions to a record-breaking Silverstone Classic sale, generating more than £2million.In total, 64 percent of the road cars on offer were succes... Morris Minor Series (Part One): What makes these little cars so popular?. As the elderly population in the UK gradually increases, are more people buying Morris Minors as an affordable classic car to enjoy in retirement?Tim Brennan, Company Director at Charles Wares Morri... Gorgeous Jaguar C-X75 makes surprise public debut at Goodwood. The Jaguar C-X75 is set to make a surprise public dynamic debut today at Goodwood Festival of Speed. The prototype hypercar, one of only five development and test cars in existence, will ... The ‘Cool Colour’ Coatings of the Future: BASF reveals it is making more eco-friendly ‘scratch-resistant’ coatings . For paints and coatings producers, the European automotive sector is highly lucrative, with the region OEM segment offering sales opportunities across other continents.BASF, the world’s fifth larges... £10 Million Pound Prize Announced To Make Ultra Low Emission Cars. A new £10 million prize to incentivise the development of the next generation of ultra low emission cars has been announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander during a visit to M... Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg wow crowds at Goodwood Festival of Speed. Mercedes Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg wowed tens of thousands of spectators at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend.Taking it in turns behind the wheel of the Mercedes ... Motorhome industry making ‘gradual recovery’ after recession with families growing fond of the British ‘staycation’. The growing popularity of the ‘staycation’ has seen more Britons choosing to holiday in UK, according to Nick Page, Commercial Director for the Swift Group.Mr Page told Motortrades Insight’s Danny H... Company Info // Get in Touch © Motortrades Insight Limited 2012 - 2013 Tel: 0844 656 1808 Email: accounts@motortradesinsight.co.uk Motortrades Insight Limited trading as motortradesinsight.co.uk Registered Address The Coach House Baddow Park West Hanningfield Road Great Baddow Chelmsford Essex CM2 7SY Company Reg: 07302221 VAT No: 120173663 Links // On The Web >> >> Subscribe to Mailing List >> Advertise on Motortrades Insight >> Motorsport News >> >> Motoring Industry News >> Blog >> Used Car Buyers Guide >> Link To Us >> Ratecard >> Privacy Policy >> Terms and Conditions Twitter // Follow Us Cookies on Motortrades InsightLike many popular websites, Motortrades Insight uses some third party widgets that may set and may have already set cookies, for example the Twitter feed on our homepage. For more information see our cookie policy. By clicking close and continue you agree to our use of cookies.