I don’t really think national pride comes in to it with classic cars, i think it could be more of what you know.
I never really understood American cars until I got my XJ restored. But the late 60’s charger sitting next to mine at the paint shop was an eye opener and even the barracuda left me speechless, let alone the other half dozen cars with the bee or the road runner emblazoned on their sides.
I could think of a dozen American cars I’d love to have if my name started with Sheikh or ended with Leno… Then there’s parts availability, certainly I would presume that when your Chevy V8 feels tired you just throw a crate motor at it, can’t really do that with a British/european classic… but hell, can I not have a manual C3 chrome bumper and also a V12 Series III manual as well…
Az has at least 20 different license plate styles. That is the “historic vehicle” version which is an option if the car is more than 25 (I think) years old.
Well, everyone is different I guess. As a young boy growing up between the Bronx & Queens NY, the only American made car that ever appealed to me was the Stingray Corvette. For whatever reason, though, my eyes were always drawn to foreign cars. The Citroen cars with that weird shape were seen in my neighborhood but they never did anything for me. My neighbors wife had a little Mercedes sports car and I drooled over both of them 
I dunno, but foreign cars always did it for me, and it still holds true even today. The only American vehicle I own is the last year offered F350 5 speed manual special order that I had a wait time of of almost 4 months (can’t see myself selling that stick).
Ditto: my ‘affliction’ was instilled by my 'rent’s foreign car business, so I saw firsthand how superior most foreign cars were to Murkin tanks.
Being an Air Force brat in my childhood, I lived on both sides of the Atlantic ( Canada, England, France and Germany) so I got to see more than my fair share of classic and unique cars. I loved the American land yaughts as well as the best that the British and Euro cars had to offer. I remember being taken to a Portsmouth football game in 1966 in a new gold Pontiac Parisienne convertible. Talk about the parting of the seas. It was like all 22 feet of glorious gold paint and chrome, and by the way get your Morris Minors the heck out of the way. That car was massive and American excess at its best. It sure looked out of place but you got noticed. It didn’t hurt that I was riding in the back at nine years old with my first love Francine Munday, the pub owner’s daughter. ( I can’t even make this stuff up if I tried) LOL
Sorry I digress.
Had one… mayhaps shoulda kept it, if only to remind me of the wretched excess they were!
Now that’s a classic. I wonder what an XJ-S would look like in that colour? Can you please get us the paint code for that Paul?
Mind you you’re the only one I saw with a purple
E-Type! Might be onto something here.
Hehe!
It was whatever the stock Chrysler pink was of 1963.
There are some great American cars, sure. But there are also things that puzzle me. I have never understood the popularity of the Pontiac GTO. Sure, it was available with a nifty triple 2 bbl carb setup, but it was still an ugly, overweight American tank. For some reason it got lots of love, even though it was uncompetitive in NASCAR. And there were several other cars of that generation that I thought got far more attention than they deserved.
The Big Three definitely rested on their laurels for a while there, 1980’s especially. It wasn’t until Japan took a serious chunk of the American car market from them that they finally got motivated to improve.
Circa 1946, I used to walk by a small business place. A very different small black sedan was parked in front. Nothing like the other cars seen around there. In some way, I found out what it was. I do not remember that part. 37 Cord!!! for decades, I lusted for one. Never got it.
I’ll tell you what, regardless of what anyone likes or dislikes, purchasing my XJS in Northern California and making my way 2,500 miles eastward via the Southern route I40 home, there was certainly no such thing as conspicuous travel. Love it, don’t know about it, or hate it, a nice looking Jag is always gonna be a Jag that garners plenty of attention. Good examples really do deserve more than mediocre selling prices.
You’re stepping on some hallowed ground there Kirby! Blasphemy they would say! I just look at them as part of my youth and part of the American dream of success and freedom and everything good to go cruising the hamburger stand with your favourite girl for a milkshake, after a drive in movie. When did we all get so old and sensible? I love John Delorean designs.
That’s what made America great after coming through two world wars , a dust bowl depression, a stock market crash , it don’t get much better than that ! A symbolism of what our forces fought for.
Just as a kid growing up I loved those cars and the era they represented. Not to worry the future has a new electric SUV for the new generations. Better yet the car will disappear from the landscape and we can all be herded like cattle into, wait for it, public transit. That really lights my fire . End of my meaningless rant.
Meh: just a gussied-up, slightly reengineered GM A-body… blah, with a GREAT marketing program!
AJ Simpson, I am originally from Queens myself! I remember passing an XJS most days on my way to IS145. That’s what started my desire for one.
The old american muscle cars don’t do it for me either…I did love the DeLorean, even before Back to the Future!
I did pass a house that must have had at least three of those old Citroens in the driveway and the street. Back then I had never heard of a Citroen. It was years before I finally realized what they actually were!
Interesting, I spent a lot of my youth growing up in East Elmhurst right around the corner from LGA airport. As kids (believe it or not) we often played in and road our bicycles around the the airport (fat chance of doing that today) which allowed me to get to looked at all kinds of vehicles. American born, but foreign driven 
Oh the '80s … don’t get me started … The era when all our cars started looking alike and plain … and rock music started to (for the most part) suck … 
Ironic, coming just off the '70s, which IMHO, was the heyday of both American cars (in appearance) and rock … 
Amen, AJ6 … 
One thing I have never figured out, though, as many times as bystanders have commented positively on my XJSes, why is it I never run across another one on the roads here in Dallas (except at car shows)? 
You’d think if they admire the car so much they’d buy one of their own, but nooooooooooo … Do people (non-Jag owners) still not “trust” Jags, believing all the bad rumors out there about them? IIRC, the ONLY one I have seen here in probably the last 5-7 years was a red pre-face lift (badly faded paint, btw) that was parked in front of a compounding pharmacy in my hometown. I had a hunch perhaps one of the pharmacists that worked there owned it. 
I never did see it actually on the road, though and after a few weeks never saw it again. 
I still want a Brickkiln (gullwing doors, too) and there are a few to be had for not a whole lot of money if you look around and are patient, VK. The only downside ARE those doors, as it is my understanding they (esp. the first year of production) had a problem with them being “unreliable” - i.e. you’d push the button and they’d fail to open or, once open, fail to stay up (kind of like bad hood struts with a Jag, x10 
). Supposedly they made a “fix kit” for them several years later, going from a hydraulic mechanism to an electric one (or vice versa), fortunately. 
Until then, wary owners knew to travel with a “prop stick” (think large, thick broomstick) in their car at all times that could be used in an emergency to physically keep the door fully open. 
Starting with stealing the name of the most famous Ferrari of the time?