Before we get into the politics, Jaguar wasn't rescued. Lord Stokes, the head honcho of BL was determined to acquire all the British marques. Once he got his hands on Jaguar, down the slide they went. It was John Egan who sold Jaguar to Ford for £1.8 Billion. Ford thought that the public would buy a Jaguar badged Mondeo. How wrong could you get? I will grant you that Aston Martin have always overstretched themselves and would probably sunk without trace had it not been for the choice of, and the subsequent success of, the James Bond franchise. But here's an interesting post script to Lord Stokes' empire building. He did all he could to bring the civil engineering manufacturer, JCB into the BL fold. He failed, today JCB are one of the best success stories in our manufacturing sector. In one sense you are right, it's that greedy empire building, power lust, that causes the downfall of once successful companies.
If MG had been hived off to someone who ran it the way it was, it would still be in British hands and be as successful as Morgan. We can't have that though, can we? Got to shift volumes. Anyway, enough waffle from me, I have something for you, and for John too, heaven knows how I did it, but at a classic show today I was admiring the view through the windscreen of my car. Oooh, look, a Healy 3000, Aghhh, a Corvette, Ooooh an MGA.
Then this monstrosity photobombed me. What is it, aghh, I don't believe it. The shadow is the brim of my hat.
Following the car's outline, I thought that I might get a photo of it's, I can hardly type this, Marina badge.
Horror of horrors, I got your photo, but look into the background, look right behind the, oh no, I've got to type that word again, behind the Marina. Can you see a white van? It's a camper, converted from a van. Brace yourself:
