Jaguar Journal September/October 2022

As I write this in late June in the UK, there are murmurings of rising covid cases and the potential need for global steps to combat socalled ‘monkeypox.’ It all sounds depressingly familiar, but we are hopefully a little older and wiser about dealing with infectious disease outbreaks. By the time you read this, either or both situations may have escalated dangerously, or be forgotten as statistical ‘blips.’ In reality (and regardless of the above two specific diseases), things are likely to be somewhat under control but requiring careful monitoring and risk-reduction steps. For the most part, the advice of experts is likely to be similar to that offered preor post-covid, since many of the same steps are used to control the spread of any national (endemic) or global (pandemic)…

Coventry, as Jaguar Journal readers will aver, has a special place in the history of British road vehicles of all types, thanks to the bicycles, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks made in the area. This leadership role continues, with planned full conversion to electric buses being announced for Coventry as this article is written. Past issues of JJ have described Jaguar-linked initiatives to develop autonomous vehicle networks in partnership with the forward-looking local authorities. This leadership role is nothing new, however, and recently the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) celebrated Ernest Instone – a pioneering engineer and businessman from the first days of motor transport in Europe. Gottlieb Daimler essentially invented two-wheeled and fourwheeled liquid-petroleum internal combustion-engine vehicles. Daimler supplied engines to other factories and in the case of the…

I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about club growth. I think we have all heard the old saying about the more hands available, the easier the load is to carry. In the fall of 2021, a marketing committee was formed to explore how to revitalize our club with new members. Increased membership means more volunteers to help our organization perform tasks that need to be done. When we don’t have volunteers, needed services have to be contracted out, which in turn increases our operating costs. Increased costs lead to a raise in dues, unless we recruit more members to help keep the overall cost of membership down. In 2022, our operating costs have increased by over $10,000, and that doesn’t include inflation. At the time of writing, inflation…

Being the mighty tiny Northwest Region with only four clubs, we can now boast of growing our club count by 25% when the Canadian Prairies Jaguar Club formed. Doug Uffen, the club president, writes about this elsewhere. With the exception of the new club, the other four clubs vary in size from about 85 to 170 members. With two clubs on the US side of the 49th parallel and now three on the Canadian side, our opportunities for interclub events, especially the previously healthy cross-border concours participation, fell victim to international travel covid restrictions. This year we can attend each other’s concours. Although the new Canadian Prairies Jaguar Club hasn’t had time to plan and execute a concours, all of the other clubs are holding their events: Jaguar Owners Club…

At the time of penning this article in June, summer warmth had yet to arrive on the West Coast. Due to the depredations of the dreaded La Niña, it has been a cold and wet spring this year. Attendees of a recent non-JCNA car club BBQ event on the beach found it took up to two T-shirts, a shirt, a sweater, a heavy jacket and a rain jacket to stay warm. Preparations for ‘Jaguars on the Island’ are well under way however, and it looks to be a great event. We can only hope that our next article will picture many smiling Jaguar owners basking in a sea of sunshine and not a shot of farm tractors hauling mud-spattered cars out of Windsor Park. Otherwise, the Jaguar Car Club of…

KEYLESS OR CLUELESS? One of the key factors in determining the sales success of a car is successfully portraying the car as highly-desirable. Regardless of whether it’s a mid-range minivan to take the kids to football practice, or a top-of-the-range grand tourer, if you can see that car making you happier then you’ll be motivated to make that purchase. Unfortunately, some cars make their own image, and it doesn’t always align with exactly what the marketing gurus had in mind. Take the Jaguar Mk 2, for example, whose image as the ultimate bank robber’s getaway car wasn’t exactly what Jaguar expected from their multiple Touring Car championships, although ultimately it didn’t hurt sales. Other unplanned images are not always as kind. For example, a car regarded as easy to steal…