12 Teams After All

I have to admit that I am, indeed, reluctant to keep this blog “automobile dominant.” (A play on the medical phrase “autosomal dominant.”) The surge in views since mid-August has coincided, maybe coincidentally, with a de-emphasis on automotive content.

I also think that the seemingly never-ending saga with the Z06 has sapped some of my interest in cars. This situation is now in its 21st week and is certain to reach its 22nd week, at least. While life is filled with obstacles that have to be overcome, I think everyone’s emotional, mental and physical energies are finite.

A shout-out to my most active commenters: you are a prime example that life is not about doing as little as possible. While I don’t really know all of you in the sense that we have ever met face-to-face or spoken voice-to-voice, from the glimpses you have provided, your lives are robust. For those commenters I do know, I know that is true, without question. I salute Photo By Johnbo, Dirty Dingus McGee, Philip Maynard, Mark, David Banner (not his real name) and “Bill Babowsky.”

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This weekend I watched virtually all of two college football games: West Virginia-Pitt and Ohio State-Notre Dame. Contrary to what a former friend of mine used to believe (he was wrong a lot although he never acknowledged being wrong at all), I enjoyed the first game even though I had no interest in which team won.

I don’t know if Friday’s unanimous vote by the College Football Playoff’s board of managers to expand the playoff to 12 teams starting in 2026 played a role in my watching more college football. (Yes, West Virginia-Pitt was actually played on Thursday, but word had broken about the board meeting and likely outcome.) Of course, if the “petty commissioners” (as the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum called them) could have reached a unanimous vote nine months ago, then it is likely the 12-team playoff would start earlier. It is also true that the playoff’s board of managers, consisting of presidents and chancellors, could have seized the initiative earlier.

Like the sport in which I worked for 20+ years, college football moves slowly. To borrow a phrase from Bill James, it moves like a scout crawling on his knees, trying to avoid upheavals and revolutions. Well, sometimes we don’t get to make choices, choices are thrust upon us.

It is obvious that football players at schools with significant football revenues will be paid, sooner rather than later. As I have written before, if universities can pay their head football coaches $10,000,000+ a year, as Alabama and Georgia do, then they can provide the players $1 million a year to be divided among them. If that means the end of men’s cross country or women’s field hockey, so be it. No one has a right to be able to play their sport at the intercollegiate level.

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Today is a significant anniversary in the automotive world. It was 100 years ago today that William Lyons and William Walmsley founded the Swallow Sidecar Company. That company is now known as Jaguar, which–ironically–is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors. Sadly, as far as I am concerned, it appears that Jaguar has swallowed the Kool-Aid (see what I did there) and will stop producing ICE-powered vehicles perhaps as soon as 2025.

The name Jaguar was first seen after Lyons had sold his interest in Swallow Sidecar to Walmsley and formed S.S. Cars Limited in 1934. The next year, the name SS Jaguar appeared on a sports saloon, or sedan as we would call it in the US. In 1945, the name of the company was changed to Jaguar Cars Limited.

Mark’s most recent post is about the book British Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design. We have a bit of a running comment dialogue in which I offer that Jaguar and Aston Martin have made the best-looking cars ever, especially when one considers the entire history of automobile makes. Below are a couple of relevant photos.

The top photo is, of course, a picture of a Jaguar F-Type Convertible, a member of my Ultimate Garage 3.0. The bottom pic is an Aston Martin DB11 in Kermit Green. Yes, that is the official name of the color. The DB11 was also a member of Ultimate Garage 3.0.

As always, I welcome thoughtful comments on this or any other relevant topic. Thanks.

#12TeamsAfterAll

#Jaguar

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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Cars A To Z: J

First…while the weather in this part of Arizona is very nice this time of year, especially compared to most of the rest of the country, I do not like the late “sunrise.” Today, that occurred at 7:25 AM. Regardless of when daylight commences I still wake up early. Since I don’t really see well enough in the dark to drive (I lose virtually all peripheral vision in low light) I am basically stuck at home. Yes, I remember: EVERYTHING is a trade-off.

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My wonderful wife would never forgive me if I picked a make other than Jaguar as the “J” car in Cars A To Z. By the way, although we are still waiting for the final and most important result, she is feeling better every day post-surgery. Once again, we thank those of you who have offered good wishes.

Jaguar was founded in 1922 (the year my marvelous mom was born) as the Swallow Sidecar Company by William Lyons and William Walmsley. When the latter wanted to sell his stake in the company, Lyons formed S.S. Cars Limited and raised capital by selling shares in the new company in 1933. In 1945 the company name was changed to Jaguar Cars Limited.

To me, Jaguar has excelled in terms of exterior design. Consider the car shown below:

See the source image

This XJ6 coupe, of which fewer than 10,000 were made between 1975 and 1978, is not one of the company’s better known models. Still, its aesthetics are just wonderful to me. Of course, Enzo Ferrari called the next car the most beautiful he had ever seen:

See the source image

This is a picture of a lot offered at the Mecum Monterey auction in 2016: a 1964 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 roadster. While I have never named the E-Type to any of my Ultimate Garages, I do think the car has a great design. I also prefer the looks of the car shown below:

Yes, dirt and all I think the number of better looking cars can be counted on the fingers of no more than two hands, maybe just one. This is a Jaguar F-Type convertible, which was included in Ultimate Garage 3.0.

With the exception of the XJ-220, Jaguar’s recent idiom has been more in the great-looking car with good performance niche as opposed to the supercar/hypercar arena. Jaguar did have much success at Le Mans in the 1950s. Of course, Jaguar Land Rover recently announced they will make only electric-powered vehicles beginning in 2025. Let’s hope the company continues its tradition of great exterior design and doesn’t succumb to the mind-numbing sameness that afflicts most of the automobile industry.

Once again, a blog post is not an appropriate venue in which to tell the story of an automobile company with a long history. I am sure some of you know far more about Jaguar than I do and I welcome your contributions.

#CarsAToZ

#Jaguar

#somanycarsjustonelife

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Twelve One Twenty-One

So, this is the last month of the year that was supposed to be better than the last year. It sure as hell doesn’t seem that way to me.

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While the number of views and visitors for November declined significantly compared to October, so did the number of posts. I wrote only 20 posts last month, the fewest since I wrote 18 posts in March of 2020.

As I have written before, the correlation (technically, the zero-order correlation coefficient) between the number of posts in a month and the number of views is about .6, which is fairly strong. Speaking of blog views, so far the post about the “G” car (Graham-Paige) has the most views of any in Cars A To Z, about 13 percent more than the “C” car (Chevrolet).

Speaking of blog stats…the average number of comments per post doubled from 2018 to 2019 and, basically, doubled again from 2019 to 2020. However, in 2021 that number is down about 13%. While I always welcome thoughts from “The Big Five” commenters and understand that only a small percentage of blog readers submit comments, I humbly ask that those of you who read Disaffected Musings on a regular or semi-regular basis and have not commented to please feel free to submit thoughtful comments. Also, please feel free to tell your friends about this blog and please feel free to click on any ad in which you have genuine interest.

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While I will always think that ~~wokeness~~, ~~Critical Race Theory~~, ~~cancel culture~~ and the like are 360 degrees of wrong (OK, maybe 358 degrees, even a blind squirrel can stumble onto an acorn), I will be writing about those topics much less in the future. I think that readers of this blog want to read about cars and maybe a little bit about my life more than anything else. Besides, in the polarized world in which we live my writing about those subjects will not change anyone’s mind.

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On this day in 1989 Jaguar shareholders agreed with the recommendation of the Board of Directors and accepted Ford’s offer to buy the company. An economic recession that affected most of the “Western” world in the early 1990s also affected Jaguar. During 1991 early retirement and voluntary redundancy “programs” were introduced that by the end of the year had reduced the workforce by a third; the total headcount was down to 8,000 employees. In that year Jaguar sales in Europe declined by 35 percent compared to 1990 and US sales declined by 50 percent.

Ford sold Jaguar (and Land Rover, which it had acquired in 2000) to Tata Motors of India in 2008. Supposedly, Ford sold the companies for half the amount it paid and Jaguar lost money every year under Ford ownership. The Jaguar product line was expanded during The Blue Oval’s stewardship as the S-Type was introduced in 1999 and the X-Type in 2001. The traditional focus of the company, sports car/grand tourer, also changed with the introduction of the XK-8 in 1996, replacing the long-running XJS.

See the source image

The XK-8 (and XK-R, the supercharged version), either in convertible or coupe form, was a great looking car with good performance. I don’t know if the vehicle had quality control issues, in general, but the one my wonderful wife owned was–how shall I phrase this?–less than reliable. She purchased the car used, but with some of the original factory warranty remaining. Almost as if the car knew, once the warranty expired things began to go wrong. The last ten months she owned the car she/we had to spend about $10,000 on repairs. The final straw was the $4,000 bill to replace the ABS module.

I don’t know if Jaguars are more reliable since the company was acquired by Tata Motors. Of course, I see the irony in two of Britain’s iconic brands being owned by an Indian company.

Has anyone reading ever owned a Jaguar? What is your favorite Jaguar? If you remember my Ultimate Garage 3.0, then you probably remember this car:

Yes, Enzo Ferrari supposedly called the Jaguar E-Type the most beautiful car he’d ever seen. Yes, I also think it’s a great design. I just like the F-Type more. So sue me…

#TwelveOneTwenty-One

#Jaguar

#somanycarsjustonelife

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Friday Filament

To the “clueless” people (I am being kind in that characterization) who think the Chinese government is wise and fair and just, remember what happened on this day in 1989. From Wikipedia:

“The Tiananmen Square protests, known as the June Fourth Incident in China, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks fired at the demonstrators and those trying to block the military’s advance into Tiananmen Square. The protests started on April 15 and were forcibly suppressed on June 4 when the government declared martial law and sent the People’s Liberation Army to occupy parts of central Beijing. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.”

Fast forward to today and the Chinese government is engaged in what I feel will ultimately be a losing battle: to get China to be first-world wealthy before its demographics implode. The government’s recent decision to allow Chinese couples to have a third child is a tacit admission of that reality, although I think it’s too little, too late. The blatant theft of intellectual property is also part of that battle.

I think both nations at the top of the world in total GDP will be radically different 50 to 100 years from now than they are today, but–obviously–I will not live to see the transformation. Maybe the EU and a unified, democratic Korea (hopefully) will be the economic kings of the hill.

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For some reason, this post from last November–The Paradox Of Choice–had a fair number of views yesterday. As the title implies, I wrote about how we can have too many choices, that even choice has diminishing marginal utility. Of course, trying to limit choice to reach the “optimal” level is impossible.

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As a slightly early anniversary present for my wonderful wife, I am going to write about one of her favorite makes of automobiles, Jaguar. I believe that, like Aston Martin, Jaguar has basically never made an ugly car. What about Ferrari, you ask? Well, they made the FF, which I think is hideous, sort of a neither fish nor fowl creation.

My wonderful wife got to fulfill her dream of owning a Jaguar with one of these:

See the source image

From motoimg and Vantage Sports Cars a picture of a 2002 Jaguar XK-8 convertible. Unfortunately for my wife, the reality of owning this car did not come close to living up to the fantasy.

She purchased the car used, but with some of the original warranty remaining. As if the car knew, within a month of warranty expiration systems began to fail. The last ten months she owned the car she/we spent in excess of $10,000 in repairs. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the $4,000 bill to replace the ABS module.

Here is a picture of another Jaguar, probably the most famous one in the company’s history:

It is part of automotive lore that Enzo Ferrari called the Jaguar E-Type the most beautiful car he had ever seen. Whether or not he actually said that, the E-Type is certainly orders of magnitude closer to being the most beautiful than to being the ugliest.

As every regular reader knows, I am very fond of the current Jaguar sports car, the F-Type. Here is a relevant photo:

Even dirty, the lines of this car are just breathtaking to me, and I don’t mean that in a Seinfeld kind of way. If I publish my Ultimate Garage 3.0, the exercise will have to begin with the acknowledgment that such an endeavor is, for me, basically a beauty contest. More on that later, maybe…

Have a great weekend!

See the source image

#FridayFilament

#TiananmenSquare

#TheParadoxOfChoice

#MyWonderfulWife

#Jaguar

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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