Jaguar Journal September/October 2021

BOOKENDS OR HARBINGERS? Last year, despite rumblings of trouble to come, nobody – including the Amelia Island attendees and organizers – realized that Amelia 2020 would be the only big show that year. Not only was the traditional 2020 season wiped out, but a year later it was still too risky to resume business as usual and the 2021 event had to be postponed until May. So as the first (and only) major show of 2020, and the opening event of this shortened 2021 season, Amelia 2020 and 2021 became unwitting bookends to a 16-month hiatus in collector car activity. Still, if you’re reading this, you survived 2020, so spare a thought for those who didn’t. But in car terms, how are we? At least one full-service Jaguar parts manufacturer/retailer…

The Jaguar Club of Southwest Florida cordially invites all JCNA clubs and members to join us for this year’s International Jaguar Festival in beautiful Ft. Myers, Florida. For almost all of us, the year 2020 was one we would probably like to be able to forget, but the 2021 International Jaguar Festival promises to be an incredible experience that you will never forget! The IJF host hotel is the gorgeous Marriott Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa located on an 85-acre peninsula on San Carlos Bay, just a short distance from Sanibel and Captiva Islands – home of beautiful beaches, world-class shelling and top attractions. A special room rate has been negotiated for festival attendees; to book a room at the IJF rate, see the link on the registration form on…

We review the auction scene on page 39, but Amelia has always been about more than auctions and horse-trading. Would the well-heeled and the wishful thinkers turn up, post covid? Would social-distancing lead to social deserts, and May heat be less tolerable than temperate January? The answers were yes, no and no. In fact it drizzled with rain a few times and the slightly reduced crowds created a less frenetic but equally pleasant atmosphere where everyone seemed glad to be back. THE HIGHLIGHTS If Ramsey Potts ever offers to take you on a behind-the-scenes auction tour, sign up. The live-action, 3D, 105 dB Ramsey is a phenomenon. Unlike his measured, even-handed tone in JJ, when Ramsey is on home turf, the showman shines through. That, and an encyclopedic knowledge of…

Last spring we covered the sad car-crushing tale of new JCNA Rally Chairman JohnCorey, looking for an exact replacement after his 2004 XJR was flattened by a windstorm-uprooted tree in fall 2020. Despite a number of encouraging calls of assistance from other JCNA members, and a purchase near-miss last winter, John largely resigned himself to never finding the perfect match and bought another car for daily use. He canceled all the saved web searches, most of which pestered him with daily emails that did not match the specs. Then in late April, he got a ping from Autotrader, a site that does mostly private-party sales that he forgot to cancel because it was not emailing daily. The offered car in South Carolina claimed just 29,500 miles from new! “The year…

As you read this, the August AGM will have concluded, and the changes your management team had been working on for the last 18 months have now been implemented. One of these important outcomes guarantees that our organization will not have a repeat situation where rules or changes were unable to be addressed for three years because our membership was unable to convene for an in-person meeting. To make changes, our bylaws required an in-person meeting in order to have a vote by the majority of members in attendance. Since the coronavirus brought in-person meetings to a standstill, items of importance couldn’t be voted upon and ratified. The bylaws have been amended to reflect that changes can be made via an online meeting, with voting verified by the secretary and…

YOUNGER MEMBERS AND NEWER CARS Start ‘em young! Many Jaguar enthusiasts started as car-crazy kids, like Gus and his sibling, grandkids of Seattle Jaguar Club’s past president Debbie and trustee Glen Read. The future for JCNA clubs depends on attracting and pleasing new members, who will logically be younger and drive newer Jaguars. Seattle: The Seattle Jaguar Club has a 20-something XK120 FHC owner, Julian Pace, but the majority of new members of the growing club are in the in the 30 to 50 years-old range. They show up in F-Types and F-Paces and are particularly enthused by driving events. Many find out about the club through its high-traffic Facebook page. The digital-only newsletter is designed to be a recruitment tool that is attractive to younger members. It is packed…