Editor’s note: As a way to celebrate Father’s Day, we posted every story we received as part of our Collecting Cars, Collecting Memories contest. Thank you to all who submitted.
On the eve of finishing a two-plus-year car restoration project, I’d like to share how my dream car became a reality.
In the 1980s, I lived in Kirkland, Washington and was on a walk with my then infant son, Mark Joseph. We lived in a neighborhood near a classic and vintage car dealership call Park Place Motors.
Our walk was on a beautiful spring morning. MJ was in a stroller and, as I crossed the main road on our walk, I did a double take at this beautiful brown Jaguar XJ6C with a tan interior. These coupes were only made for three years — 1975 to 1977 — so they were quite rare and many were kept in England, where they were built.
On that quiet spring morning walk with my son, the seed was planted and my dream car would never be forgotten.
Fast forward thirtysome years. I made a promise to myself that on the other side of the big three — cancer, divorce, debt — I would live big, follow my dreams and never look back.
After eliminating most of my debt, I began accumulating a significant savings account. I had my eye out for a Jaguar XJ6C for a while and even test drove one at the newer location at Park Place Motors in Bellevue, Washington. The car was pricey and not exactly what I had in mind for my dream purchase.
I still remember that cream colored interior and the milk chocolate brown exterior of the car I first spotted and hoped some day to find one like the one I saw years ago on our walk.
More than two years ago, I spotted a brown 1976 XJ6C advertised just north of me in British Columbia, Canada. Although it was advertised as a complete, original car, I went to investigate and test drive it to see if it was “the one.”
On that short drive from Bellingham to the Blaine border crossing, my thought was to just look but not buy, and so I held to that until after I drove the car and had a good look! A few weeks later I made the purchase and my dream car became a reality.
On the other side of some difficult times, I began living my dreams, not just dreaming my dreams!
-Mark Parrish from Bellingham, Washington
I, too , have a Jaguar XJ6C, midnight blue approx. the same vintage.
understand that it was one of the LAST models made by the designer of the Jaguar before he retired. A real showy car…..sporty.
The profile silhouette of your XJ6C, I feel, is gorgeous and very much in keeping with the Jaguar coupe design successes since the XK 120 FHC.
I recognize your feeling of wanting to own a special Jaguar. Having driven a 120 FHC in the 1960’s in my college years, it happened to me a few years ago when I found myself driving from Park Place Ltd. to my Kenmore, Washington home in my newly purchased 1965 Jaguar S Type Saloon. (The 120’s cost three times more.) I then found the Jaguar Drivers & Restorers Club (Seattle Jag Club) on line and am now connected with many Jaguar owners, some with XJ6C’s. We also share events with the British Columbia Jaguar Club.