A MAN aged 95 who bought the world’s first Jaguar after seeing a sketch of it on the factory wall said the closure of Browns Lane was a “tragedy”.
Arnold Hudson was delivering typewriters in the early 1930s when he fell in love with a full-scale plan of the new SS Jaguar at the Coventry plant. He placed his order there and then.
Mr Hudson, of Stone, Staffordshire, said: “I knew instantly that I wanted it and told the company founder William Lyons to make me his first customer. He was astounded to sell his first vehicle off-plan. He simply couldn’t believe he’d found a fan before it even went into production.”
Meanwhile, as grim-faced workers trudged through the drizzle into the factory in Coventry yesterday, they stared bleakly at a black E-Type with the words “RIP Jag” on the bonnet.
The message was clear: for some, the end of car production at Browns Lane augur the extinction of the “Big Cats”, luxury cars as British as their most famous drivers, John Prescott and Inspector Morse.
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Andrew Longfield, 41, was surrounded by drenched photographers and reporters as he staged his one-man protest. But scores of workers stopped and nodded as they read the words written in sticky tape on the bonnet of his Jaguar.
“Jaguar reflects the best of British engineering and this is where it all started,” he said. “This is where the empire was built up from and it’s a shame they’ve done this as there’s a lot of history here.”
Jaguar workers agreed with his sentiments. “This plant stands for everything that’s British,” said Paul Smith, whose family have worked at the factory for generations.
“The James Bond cars were built here and you can’t get more British than that.”
Mr Smith, 45, an administrator, added: “People knew this was coming but it’s still a shock for them.”
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Richard Henson, a 48-year-old mechanic, has worked at the plant all his life. “This is heartbreaking. It will be so sad for everyone when it closes its doors for the last time.”