Fords etc.

[Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>]

In V7, #1336, Paul Rollins said:

"Since they bought Jaguar, Ford have been converging
it with their existing line. The current S-type is,
under the skin, mostly a Lincoln LS. You can be sure
that as time goes by, Jaguar and some other Ford car
like Lincoln will share more components until the only
way to tell them apart will be to get close enough to
read the names on the badges".

While it's true that Ford lent Jaguar some
production/QC expertise, Paul has the S-type/Lincoln
LS thing a bit backwards: it is the Lincoln that has a
Jaguar under its skin, not vice versa. A somewhat
defanged and declawed (not to mention neutered)
Jaguar, to be sure, but it's still a lot more car than
FoMoCo has been able to make manifest since...well, I
guess they NEVER did.

As for "badge engineering," it's a little late in the
day to get all huffy about that. That my first Mini, a
'59 model, was a Morris was (according to the dealer)
simply a matter of chance: that was what was first in
the queue when the boat docked in Anchorage, so that's
what the he got, instead of an Austin. If you lived in
England, you could also get one (suitably amended with
an enlarged rump, bits of wood around the dash and
different chromeplate on its snout) as either a Riley
or a Wolseley.

BTW, if anyone wants to carry on the political thread
this discussion seems to be developing, let's do it in
the other room, where we can be a bit more blunt, and
not disturb the dedicated gearheads. But I warn you:
I'm not sure it's possible to reason with anyone who
thinks Bill Clinton is a liberal!

Will Owen
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