It started in the late 70's when I was in high school. The older kids in the really cool bands who I looked up to, and also had more money because they were older, all had old Fender Jazz basses. The first bass I ever played was an early 70's Jazz. The thing just looked cool to me. At that time we would sell our equipment to our friends selling old 60's-70's Jazz for $200-$400 a pop. Its just what you did back then.
When I was studying music at University in 1987 and the Jaco instructional video came out everyone went after the vintage jazzes and prices soared.
For me it took decades of trying out a multitude of Fenders and came up with two keepers. One Jazz and one Pbass. Best studio basses I have ever heard.
Here are the " Dynamic Duo". A 1969 Fender Jazz on the right and a 1960 PreCBS Pbass on the left.