Jaguar is in the Blood

25th February 2016

Guest blog by Richard Ashcroft is a true Jaguar enthusiast at heart and like many of our members; he has a close personal attachment to the brand. Jaguar cars have always been a big part of the family and three generations of the Ashcrofts, including Richard, his granddad and his dad have all worked for the car giant.

Below Richard talks about his personal story and what Jaguar means to him — we will warn you though, it does get a bit slushy when he starts talking about the love of his life — aka the XJS.

Jaguar is in the blood, really. My grandfather worked as a machinist at the Jaguar Radford engine plant and my dad, born in 1944, picked up the ‘Jag bug’ partially from granddad, and partially from the thrilling Le Mans domination in the 50s.

These beautiful, fast, cars from the company your dad worked for winning the greatest race in the world left quite an impression.

Then history repeated itself in the 80s and my dad was working at the renowned Browns Lane factory on the production line, when the TWR Jags were beating everyone in the WSC and Le Mans.

I had the posters on my wall as a kid (I still have some of them now, a bit the worse for wear, though), and there wasn't the full race coverage we have now, but there was enough to get me hooked. And, bang, there it was again — these beautiful, fast, cars from the company dad worked for, winning everything. So, I would consider myself a 'Jag man' from the age of about six.

Dad had a number of Jags in his younger days including MkII, Mk X, and an ex-Monte Carlo rally XK150 (The receipt for the 150 is still around somewhere), which he had to sell because unfortunately, he couldn't afford the repairs. I'm now in a similar situation with my XJS, but I can’t bear to sell it.

I remember dad once brought home an XJS for the weekend and he took me out for a drive in it and right there and then I fell in love with it. I can still remember it today — it was a left-hook, facelift V12 and silver with a cream leather interior.

S Type Le Mans 14 — Richards's other love: his Jaguar S-Type basking in the sunlight at Le Mans

Chess1 — Priceless: The chess set made out of various Jaguar car parts

Xjs — Richards's beloved Jaguar XJS at home on his drive

It took me 20 Years!

It took me 20 years to finally get one of my own and despite being unable to afford the repairs at the moment, I just couldn’t let it go.

For my 21st Birthday, my dad gave me a chess set that he'd been building for years, while at Jag, made out of small parts of Jaguars he'd picked up over the years (the Knights are XJS keys, apparently) and it is absolutely priceless to me.

Later on in life my dad came home with a silver S-Type 2.7 V6 diesel and it had 13 miles on the clock when it was delivered to him, in December 2004, I think. When he passed away in late 2012, I took the car on with exactly 324,000 miles on it, and a FJSH. I still have it now, with nearly 370,000 miles on it.

It's a little the worse for wear now, mind you, but I'll get it back on the road one day and even when it finally gives up, it can sit in the back garden. I have a huge sentimental attachment to that car — it even came to Le Mans with me in 2014, and then the XJS came in 2015.

It’s extremely hard to keep the grin off your face when you take an XJS to Le Mans — doing exactly what you’ve wanted to do since you were about 10.

It’ll probably come as no surprise to you that I’ve also ended up working for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on the production line, just like my dad did all those years ago. Dad worked for Jaguar from 1970 to 1991 and after working on the production line, he moved over to road test.

I'd done a few jobs over the years, mostly either I.T related, or driving based, but I have never been happier than working where I am now for a brand that truly feels like part of the family.

Do you have an interesting Jag story to tell?

If you’ve nodded your head to some of the things you’ve read in Richard’s blog and have your own unique story to tell involving Jaguar then please get in touch by filling out the contact form and you could also have your own feature on the official Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club blog.

The Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club’s (JEC) aim is to assist enthusiasts, in a friendly and informal manner, to keep their cars on the road with the minimum of cost. And as well as the technical side, there’s a strong focus on the social side of things with events, rallies and meetings throughout the year.

For membership enquiries please see the joining section of our website, or call: 0117 9698186.

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Xjs — Richards's beloved Jaguar XJS at home on his drive

Jaguar is in the Blood

It took me 20 Years!

Do you have an interesting Jag story to tell?

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