My friend Roger, who runs an enthusiast/community website for old Jaguars received a cease & desist letter from Ford asking him to stop selling calendars. Mind you from what I gather he sells only a few calendars a year. I buy a few myself, one for me, one for my dad, and one for Geoff, the guy who rebuilt my engine right (after the bozo’s in Texas bodged it.) It is just a cool little way to mark the passing of the year. The image above is actually on my office wall this month as it is “Miss October” this year.
Why would Ford want to shut this down? First of all, the E-type pre-dates Ford’s acquisition of Jaguar by a couple of decades. Nobody ever looks at an E-type and thinks, “Nice Ford!” Ever.
But Jaguar is a Ford asset (at least until they can find a buyer) and I guess they’d rather punish their enthusiast community rather than say… support it? Hello! Can somebody please tell me why threatening legal actions against your most ardent fans is a smart business move? First Ford destroys the Jaguar brand, now they are trying to destroy what little brand loyalty is left in their customers.
Smooth move guys!