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The Jaguars of Canberra – Jaguar Drivers’ Club Display Day Coverage

 

On the 11th of April 2021, I attended The Jaguar Drivers Club of Canberra display day. The display was put on to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the club, with modern and classic Jaguars all collected together.

The atmosphere of the display day was calm and serene. The club had put up old advertisements for Jaguar cars and magazines around the oval, with music from the ‘heyday’ of the Jaguar, the 1940s to ’50s playing in the background.

 

While at the event, I managed to have a quick conversation with one of the Club Members, David McKay, and talk about his time with the club.

He said he and his father had attended other Jaguar clubs around Australia and that’s how he got interested in working on Jags. Though he did admit he found the cars beautiful too.

McKay’s bought his current car in 2011, when it had been brought to Australia from Buffalo in America. According to McKay it was in “fairly ordinary condition” when he got it, and from there, he took the car and began to restore it from the ground up.

 

Mr. McKay’s Jaguar

 

The Jags were lined up in no particular order ranging in year and model, most of the cars had a small fact sheet attached to the front windscreen to help inform people of the details of each car.

The club members were very friendly. They could be seen walking around and talking to the attendees or chatting with other club members about their cars and the stories that came with them.

 

 

There were a lot of exciting activities to engage in the display day as well, including a poll on which Jag at the display day attendees would most want to take home with them. Another activity was a challenge to find and point out the oldest E-type jag at the show.

A selection of cars had historical pieces alongside them, including a White Jaguar station wagon that had Copies of “Jag Mag” and other Jaguar-focused magazines for attendees to view and look at.

The display day was a fun and interesting event to experience. There was never a shortage of activities to view or engage in, and and the club members were so friendly and approachable for any questions or queries around the cars on display.

 

 

At 12 o’clock, in what they had appropriately named “Let the Jaguars Roar,” all the members of the club gathered to fire up their cars and rev them for the attendees.

After a little bit of fiddling around, each of the cars started up and there was a vote amongst the visitors and club members about which car had the best exhaust note (in which the race car in attendance won handily).

 

#12 Jaguar E-Type Racecar

Following the roaring Jags, one of the senior club members grabbed a microphone and asked the owners of the more notable or interesting Jaguars at the Event to talk about their cars.

This included a Jaguar E-type that had been used as a race car and had a suped-up Jaguar v12 engine in it.

There was also the owner of a 1948 Jaguar Mark IV, which was the oldest car at the event and had made its way down from the Hunter Valley.


 

Having someone on the microphone who was upbeat and helping inform people about the cars cemented the atmosphere as fun and relaxed and made the display day very enjoyable.

My time spent at the Jaguar Drivers Club of Canberra display day was fantastic. I got to view some beautiful modern and classic cars and managed to learn a whole lot of new facts about Jaguars and their owners.

If you think looking at some Jaguars might be fun, check out their website; they have meetings monthly and hold events regularly outside of that.

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