Class of ’75 – Driven To Write

Welcome to the Machine : Part Four

Supercat leaps back to life.

“If ‘efficiency’ is the watchword for the 1980s, what hope is there for the Jaguar XJ-S?” Opening their October 1980 test report of Jaguar’s embattled Grand Turismo coupé, UK imprint, Motor got directly to nub of the matter. Because at the time, the auguries for XJ-S were ominous.

That Spring, Jaguar itself had come within squeaking distance of closure. With production having slumped to levels not seen since the 1950s^[1], convulsed by a bruising walk-out of production workers, a melt-down at the Castle Bromwich paint plant, and high drama at board level, the storied carmaker (if indeed it could still be described as such) was clinging on by a thread.

This doom-laden mindset was echoed by striking line workers at Browns Lane, who had become convinced that BL management were determined to Continue reading “Welcome to the Machine : Part Four”

Welcome to the Machine : Part Three

The difficult first act.

Image: British Leyland LTD – Author’s collection

The XJ-S’ first five years were undoubtedly troubled. Launched into a post oil-shock world, where 12 mpg would butter increasingly fewer people’s parsnips, while presenting a visual envelope which substituted the E-Type’s easily assimilated aesthetics for something more complex and dissonant, the Seventies Jaguar flagship would prove a cerebral, rather than a visceral choice. Also a far more expensive one, with an asking price more than double that of the last of line E-Types – but in mitigation, it was a far more sophisticated, more capable machine.

The car’s introduction also coincided with an increasingly bitter internal environment which saw Jaguar’s management (such as they were) engaged in a desperate battle for identity within a carmaking group which had become fundamentally ungovernable. As British Leyland’s flagship model, XJ-S would also help underline the national carmaker’s repeated ability to Continue reading “Welcome to the Machine : Part Three”

Welcome to the Machine : Part Two

The shock of the new manifested itself in more ways than style alone.

When Jaguar introduced the XJ-S in the autumn of 1975, the surprise many observers felt was not only visual, but also conceptual, perhaps closer in format to that of an American personal luxury coupé than anything Jaguar themselves had produced up to that point.

But Jaguar’s Sir William Lyons, the man who was to Continue reading “Welcome to the Machine : Part Two”

Welcome to the Machine : Part One

How do you follow up a classic?

In the Spring of 1973, English progressive rock band Pink Floyd released ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, their eighth studio LP and their most ambitious recording to date. With tracks which seamlessly flowed into one another, replete with cinematic sound effects, soaring soul vocalists, disembodied voices and a song-set which dealt with issues of success, the march of time and mental illness, the conceptual album became one of best selling, most critically acclaimed and best-loved progressive rock LPs of the 20th century – cited as an all-time classic.

Two years later, the band released their follow-up. ‘Wish you Were Here’ was predominantly a tribute to Pink Floyd founder-member Syd Barrett, who had had become estranged from the band following a mental breakdown in 1968^[1], it reprised many of the themes explored in the earlier recording, but in more developed form. Less acclaimed or lionised than Dark Side, for many years Wish You Were Here languished in its shadow, only latterly being correctly recognised as a classic LP in its own right.

Officially introduced just two days prior to that of Pink Floyd’s 1975 opus, Jaguar’s XJ-S was also a reprise of a much-loved original. In the run up to its announcement, fans of sporting Jaguars, which needless to say included the gentlemen of the press keenly anticipated how Browns Lane would Continue reading “Welcome to the Machine : Part One”

An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 Story, Pt. 9

It’s time to round off this short examination of a much-respected, iconic car.

The 604’s particular failing, being composed of elements from a cheaper, older design, was not unique. There were other cars which attempted to make something rich out of what might be considered lesser ingredients. The main difference, which dignifies the 604, is that Peugeot made a very good job of this expediency.

People rather liked the car and it sold decently (153,266 units in total) until the 505 arrived, which itself was partly made of 604 components. The 604 is therefore unique in the pantheon of sow’s ear cars. The Lincoln Versailles of 1977 was based on the US-market Ford Granada and is a legend in the lore of marketing cynicism. Ford wanted a smaller Lincoln to Continue reading “An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 Story, Pt. 9”

An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 Story, Pt. 8

And so we turn to the matter of the 604’s image and fate.

The 604’s history reveals how the buyers of the 1970s were less constrained by expectations of brands. What one notices in the reviews from the time of the 604’s launch is that there isn’t a single mention of image. Today motoring writers have internalised perceptions of what constitutes a desirable car: it is what others might also desire.

Even if a particular model is objectively deemed to meet measurable expectations one can find remarks to the effect that the car lacks image, or the brand has insufficient appeal. Quite simply journalists now would never put a large, powerful and luxuriously equipped Peugeot into a test with similar vehicles from established prestige marques simply because it isn’t deemed to be a prestige brand.

But in 1977 Car compared the 604 to competitors from Mercedes and BMW, a test the 604 won quite convincingly. There were no caveats. A modern reviewer would almost certainly be under compulsion to Continue reading “An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 Story, Pt. 8”

An Afternoon Like Dusk: The 604 story, Pt. 7

Today, we turn our attention to the 604’s cabin.

A great deal of attention is paid to the exterior of cars though the interior is where we spend our time as drivers and passengers. For the 604 Peugeot had, for at least some of the time, the services of Paul Bracq. In the 60s he oversaw some of Mercedes-Benz’s finest vehicle exteriors, the ones that people think of when they think of a Mercedes (our image of these cars is four decades out of date). They are chromed, formal, upright, solid and faultless.

It is ironic then that Bracq arrived at Peugeot too late to perhaps do more than Continue reading “An Afternoon Like Dusk: The 604 story, Pt. 7”

An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 story, Pt. 6

Deep breath. I don’t think the 604’s styling has been given this level of consideration before.

Peugeot had a long standing relationship with carrozzeria Pininfarina, who prepared the basic design of the the 604. As was typical for Pininfarina, the design owed as much to other work they had done as it did to the character of their actual clients’ cars.

The exterior design was by what we might call the school of Paulo Martin, designer of the Fiat 130 coupé and Rolls-Royce Camargue. The record is not clear on the matter of authorship but a clear affinity among these cars can be seen in the angularity of the surface transitions and the flatness of the panels. Continue reading “An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 story, Pt. 6”

An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 story (Pt. 1)

The 1975 Peugeot 604 – smooth, refined and viewed as something of a failure. Today we begin a series taking an unusually close look at the 604’s life and times.

Motor Sport (April 1976 said that “one member of the test team summed up the 604 as a professional car. This takes some explaining because all cars these days are professional or are supposed to be. But one gets the impression that Peugeot engineers never say ‘assez bien‘ but keep on working until each feature is, in their eyes, absolutely right. One may disagree with some of the car’s features but if so it will be because someone at Peugeot actively disagrees with one’s point of view not because they could not Continue reading “An Afternoon Like Dusk – The 604 story (Pt. 1)”