From a Buick to a Jaguar

My very first car was a 1989 Buick Park Avenue.  It was the car I learned to drive in, the car I took to high school graduation, and the car I drove home from university in. To say that I had a lot of good experiences in that car doesn't quite sum it up.

I retired the Buick in 2010 with the purchase of my '99 Jaguar XJ8.  There are obvious differences between both vehicles, but clear similarities as well.  Both had a the bulk of premium features in their day, both had no shortage of power, and both were designed to be exceptionally comfortable - especially on long drives.

When comparing the two cars, I often talk about the Buick as though it was an arranged marriage.  I was 16 in 2000 and the Buick seemed incredibly lame.  It also wasn't even mine, it was my mom's car. However, over time the novelty grew on me and the Buick became cool in a kitschy kind of way because she was already becoming an old lady.  By the time I was given the car in 2005 I was happy to have her.

The Jaguar on the other hand was like marrying for love only to discover that things weren't quite as sweet after the honeymoon.  I obviously still love this car (welcome to the blog by the way) but in my first year of ownership there's already been a lot of pampering.  The beautiful ones are always high maintenance, aren't they?

I'm a fan of this 1989 Jaguar XJ6 print ad for several reasons.  First off, the exterior styling at this stage defines what I recognized as the iconic shape of a Jaguar when I was growing up.   It's also very similar looking to my '99 XJ8 despite the decade between them.  But what I enjoy most of all is seeing what the XJ of the time looked like in comparison to my old Buick of the same year. 

I love my Jaguar, but that Buick was a brilliant car too.  Check out the 1988 print ad for the Buick Park Avenue below (it looked pretty much identical to the '89 model).

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