British Cars: And Why We Love Them

I have a feeling I'm going to insult a lot of very competent business men and women with my next sentence, but. British Car companies have always seemed to be more akin to a hobby for their owners than a serious money making venture. Lotus has always been a better track toy than actual transportation, MG always had the reliability of early 2000s Britney Spears, TVR well... just "TVR" and Jaguar has been owned by more people than the quite vintage and questionably acquired silverware in its boot. And that leaves Aston Martin who just built an F1 car for the road (called the Valkyrie) but borrow's its F1 race car from Mercedes and Mini which is now... German.

My first car was a 1977 MGB and in the quarter century that I owned it, it was probably only road worthy for about 3 solid years. And yet it's one of my favorite cars I've ever owned. I still love seeing them sitting at car shows today.

So if British cars lack the precision of German cars, the passion of Italian cars and the reliability of Japanese cars, why do we as enthusiasts still love them so much?

After much scientific research and deep philosophical debate, I've come up with a conclusion. And that answer is Pomp and Punk. You see, it seems the British population have a distinct ability to take itself far too seriously and at the same time, not seriously at all. The same people that brought us Queen Elizabeth of Windsor (one of the last and longest reigning monarchs in the western world), brought us Monty Python. At the same time, no less. The Brits gave us Charles Dickens, Jane Austin the Sex Pistols and The Clash. Somehow British extreme reverence and extreme fuck-it-ness made its way into the vast majority of their iconic cars and beloved car brands.

My 2015 Jaguar FType R for example is a 550 horsepower supercharged hooligan, but it looks very much like it would be comfortable sitting down to a caviar and champagne lunch. I call it my "bruit in a suit".

What I've found over the years is that cars and rock bands are very similar. It doesn't matter how efficiently they do their job. It's how colorfully they do it and whether or not they give the people something to relate to. If you've made it this far in the article, you're probably realizing that I'm not going to offer any amazing insights or significant stats. You can't really do that with art (art is what we're really talking about here). But I will reward you with a bunch of pictures from the car show that inspired or should I say re-inspired me to write a little something about the "British Car". At the time that I write this article, I must reflect on the fact that the entire western world has lost its mind in many different ways. Land Rover no longer wants to be called Land Rover and that is the least of our identity worries. Manufacturers no longer want to make cars that go vroom. And manual transmission hatchbacks are some of the most expensive entry level cars on the road. I do believe things will get sorted out because reality has a way of reconining with fantasy. In the meantime, here are a few amazing cars from simpler times. Dare I say quite invigorating times.

I've always asked two things of an enthusiast car. They're subjective measurements but they're honest. 1) Would I be proud to take my girl to dinner in it (@wife, you know that's you). 2) Can I blast punk music whilst on a spirited drive? For some reason with British cars, the answer to both is always... hell yes.