Ultimately, Jaguar’s decision not to allow "The Saint "or "Goldfinger "to use an E type as the official car may or may not–probably may not–have had much affect on the cars enduring history.
That said, its use may have bumped up their sales numbers!
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The best body style… the best colour.
Smashing!
Sadly, Lyons didn’t and now the current owners don’t understand the subject and power of branding.
The Ferrari 308 was made famous by the television series Magnum , P.I. in which the series’ lead, Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck ) drove the car around Oahu for eight seasons while on his investigations, from 1980 to 1988.
Burt Reynolds’ 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Sold for $240,000. The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit is one of the most famous movie cars of all time.
The Route 66 Corvettes
Chevrolet supplied Corvettes for the duration of the series, upgrading every season to the latest models.
There are more.
I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked if I own a Volvo P 1800-S, just because of my avatar.
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You’ll also note that the other cars featured in the Bond films, Goldfinger, Thunderball and Diamonds are forever are Ford Motor Company products. Goldfinger was filmed between January and June 1964 and the Mustang was introduced April 17th of that year with demand far outstripping supply but Ford made sure the production company received one or two for work in front of the cameras.
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Agreed. Why I prefaced my remark with “if this is true”. There are however a few factual data points. The first in this thread is an article written by one of the better known authors/experts on the marque - I won’t say he’s universally respected as he has his detractors, but he has pretty much dedicated his life to things Jaguar. Beyond the above anecdotes (I have been to all of the recent, pre-pandemic Spring Carlisle and Fall Hershey meets and have heard no reports of strongarm tactics from the British car part vendors) there is Jaguar’s cash crisis and retention of a consultancy that specializes in restructuring and turnaround. There is also the reality of Brexit that can do nothing but hurt JLR sales in the EU. There can be no doubt that the company is in deep financial difficulty. Regardless, and again if this reported move is true, it constitutes a desperate, penny-wise-pound-foolish strategy. 2.5 billion pounds are not going to be found in images of E-types on tee-shirts and coffee mugs.
My expectation is JLR may possibly be seeking to corral the replica manufacturers to protect their own recent Jaguar Classic Works venture and potential plans to expand it. That might make some business sense. The rest, not so much.
I might also expect an 11th hour repatriation of the company back to England by a white knight, but that is inarguably speculative extrapolation that is equally probable as it is not.
Nope, they don’t.
Another famous fud-up, by a manufacturer, was back in the 70s, when the Denver Bronco defense was really strong, they acquired the nickname “The Orange Crush.” The club had banners, hung around the stadium, reading,“How Sweet It Is!”
(the uniforms were largely orange, then)
That also happened to be a name of a famous soda, which most of us here might remember, sales of which were, at that point, fairly moribund. Because of that association, and especially in the Denver area, sales of Orange Crush went through the roof.
So what did the manufacturers do? Ordered a cease and desist letter to the football team.
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Idiots, and you don’t see that soda anymore.
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Funny, that: …
In boxing it’s called leading with your chin…
Also the name of the interchange where the 5 (Santa Ana), the 22 (Garden Grove and the 57 Orange meet:
Don’t think that did anything for soda sales.
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But if Bond had driven an E-Type in all those films I wonder if I would have ever been able to afford one.
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I can’t afford the one I have.
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don’t forget when Ford took over Jaguar they went down the same route to protect copyright threatening people like Classic Jaguar from using the name.
Yes, as I remember it became a big deal when the then-new football team, Jacksonville Jaguars, attempted to use the leaper on team uniforms. Jaguar discovered they hadn’t been protecting their trademarks, so chest-puffing and lawsuits were exchanged, eventually resulting in a settlement.
We on the JCNA club level were notified we couldn’t use certain images on our hats and promotional materials anymore. Pisser!
And now, it gets worse…
Here’s the thing about copyright law. If you don’t defend your copyright you can lose it.
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Is it not true that Jaguar is again at auction, as Tata wants out of the business, and like Ford, lost a lot of money? Anyway, a few years back, some enterprising souls thought the Ferrari 250 GTO would make a nice replica/kit car, and they were promptly notified that they had better not. It was Joe Alphabet and Eagle Motors that made the bodies, and others joined in. It is still being marketed by a firm that I cannot recall the name. Oh, yeah, they call it the Velo Rosa. I have one of the original Alpha one, GTO bodies.
You’re the attorney, so please clarify: aren’t copyrights and trademarks quite different? I think Jaguar was up against a trademark infringement with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Copyrights are a different matter, right?
Did you know Magnum PI started with an E-type. But, it smoked oil and was made to look extremely unreliable in the first couple of shows that he had to ‘upgrade’ to a Ferrari just to catch the bad guys…