Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia - The First 20 Years

On the 4th February 1964 a very enthusiastic group with limited resources started the Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia. Early membership numbers were around the ninety mark with Concours d'Elegance being the main interest. The Club magazine started in August 1965, the first Register started in 1969. We gained our independence from the English Club in 1975. The Club's tool kit and spare parts came to life in 1977 & 78 as did the Club trailer and notice board. Honour Rolls and the first of the Membership Badges started in August 1978.

C. V. Murray's Jaguar Sales and Service Centre at 225 Parramatta Rd, Granville, opposite the Vauxhall Inn (now long gone and replaced with the M4 motorway), was the venue for the first meeting, chaired by Mal Cook. (Tony Arditto worked at Murrays) "Colonel" Murray had the view that sales could be improved and  staff mingled with the club members, addressing them as Mister!!!

Following this the Club moved to rented premises, The Natoli Building, 168 Great North Road, Five Dock. The members worked extremely hard to restore the first floor painting the walls with Inca Gold, which turned out to be Lime Green. Dyed hessian for curtains and water taken from the input side of the cistern. Opening of the Club Room was Thursday 26th May 1966, liquid refreshments were provided by Merv Newby and Peter Soulos. Included for member's entertainment were a slot car track, table tennis and dartboard. Paying the rent was dependent on serious drinkers and things didn't go as well as planned.

The Natoli Building clubrooms... click photo for a larger view

Other meeting places were the Pfahlerts Hotel, 50 Margaret St, Sydney, The George Adams Hotel and the Travellers Room Metropolitan Hotel, George St, Sydney. This was the English Pub approach to Club Meetings and fairly informal. We moved to the Australian Racing Drivers Club ltd, 360 Norton St, Leichhardt in November 1969. I noticed at this time we had branches in Caulfield Victoria, and Ascot Queensland. Other venues for our general meetings were Leyland House Bondi Junction, Leyland Pavilion Old Sydney Show Ground, Brysons, Forbes St Woolloomooloo, and Hunters Hill Bowling Club.

Club membership in the late 60's and early 70's moved to 75 but used to drop to 45 when the annual fees fell due. By the late 70's and early 80's we hit the 500 mark, which gave the highest growth rate for the Club at over 6 times.

Club members from the late 60's... click photo for a larger view

The first Sydney Concours d'Elegance was held at Vaucluse House in 1965, the second Concours was held at Eastwood Rugby Union Club in 1966, with the following events held at Channel 10 Studios Lane Cove and Centennial Park, Bondi Junction. The first National Concours d'Elegance was held on June long weekend 1969 in Albury/Wodonga in conjunction with the Victorian Club, and one of our members, John Elmgreen slept in his XK120 DHC and then won the gymkhana the following day! While a young Braham Lieberman waited 3 hours for the cavalcade.

At the Eastwood Concours in Jan/Feb 1966, "Star attraction of the day was the arrival of OKV1, the 'D' Type which averaged 105 mph to run second at Le Mans in the 1954 event. Only two of the three original factory cars are still in existence and this one proudly wears its original coat of BRG, English registration and racing tyres. Its owner, John (Jumbo) Goddard, has had OKV1 for 12 years and we are all pleased to hear that it is to remain in this country." Extract from Australia Jaguar Driver February 1966 N07.

The Concours d'Elegance competition peaked during the middle to late 70's.The Sydney Morning Herald reports Mrs Di du Cros won the National at Mildura in 1976 against 160 other Jaguars. We also made the Telegraph in 1977 when Ian Cummins, Vice President, organised Stafford Bullen to bring a live genuine Jaguar, Nina, to the Concours at Vaucluse House. Cummo also brought a small display of model cars. The press got onto this and Nina's photo was taken in an SS100 with Vivian Clarke in the drivers seat. The photo appeared the following day in the morning paper on page 3 no less. Some days later we received a not too happy letter from the Vaucluse House admin accusing us of having a non-native wild animal and selling model toys without authority in their park! An appropriate letter was sent back to the said authorities.

Concours d'Elegance was our main focus and peaked in 1978 when Don Hyslop, Vice President, organised the Concours again at Vaucluse House. Over 50 Jaguars turned out for judging and Jim Byrne was outright winner in his E-Type Series III. We were running behind time with the calculations and Vaucluse House shuts the gate at 5pm, which was done exactly on time, so here we were with well over 60 cars locked in, and me telling Irish jokes (you know the one about the soil at Vaucluse House coming from Ireland etc). The scores were completed and trophies handed out, but prospects of getting home were not good. Zig Kyzelis started the rumour about taking the hinge pin out of the gate, someone's mother was very ill, and then at last the gate keeper did his thing and let us all out.

There was always a minimum of 5 cars per class; if numbers were not there the class was not judged ! We also had age allowances - 0.25 or 0.5 points per year - so that older cars could compete against the moderns. Also the emphasis was mainly on condition and cleanliness. The judges also received a Certificate of Thank you, and in 1981 I received a silver plated water jug. So the register secretaries had to drum up their group. Concours began to decline when some members could afford "cheque book" restorations by paying someone else to do the work. In 1983 a classic example of this was a beautiful silver grey MKV DHC No plate MK 5555 after being restored at a cost of $50,000 won outright, raising the standard mark to the highest level.

Gymkhanas at the Colo River were very popular and in 1968 this was the order of the day. Ground fee payable at the gate 30 cents, entry fee 50 cents. The events were the Flag Bend, Serpent, Garaging, Passenger Flag Pickups, Le Mans Clover Leaf and the Kings Cross Pick-up, all followed by a barbeque.

Gymkhana action from the late 60's... click photo for a larger view

On Sunday 23rd June 1968, the late Joe Ibbet's E-Type Coupe Registration EXK 007 (First Patron) run of 15.36 sec for the standing quarter mile gave him NSW State Record (Series Production Sports Car 4001 - 5000) - THIS MADE US PAY ATTENTION! Merv Newby's XK150S set a second record of 16.15 sec, (Series Production Sports Car 3001 - 4000) and Peter Soulos's MKII 3.8 17.00 sec (Series Production Touring Car 3001 - 4000) Ash Marshal in his "Vandal" Chrysler was also going all right at 8.3 sec!

The Honour Rolls and Ten Year Badges came on line in 1978. The Honour Rolls were designed to give a permanent record of achievements and encouragement to all club members. Jim Byrne gets the highest billing with 12 entries. President, Club Champion twice, Concours Outright Winner, Bryson Trophy four times, Coventry Trophy four times. In between all this he was XK Register Secretary, Club Secretary, Vice President, and was still judging at the 2001 Concours.

The Membership Badges were in recognition of your length of time that you have been a member, some of our long time members still very active in the club are Ian Hutchinson , Chris Edwards  (now in Tas), John Taylor , Len Seeman  (now in Qld), Ian Cummins , Don Hyslop  and Mike Downey.

JDCA badges... click photo for a larger view

The Club Magazine, or The Australian Jaguar Driver, is the window of the club. Our first editor was Mr Les G Orchard with a staff of one, Mrs H L Orchard. You could say the magazine was literally hand made on a manual operated Gestetner Printing Machine, then stapled and folded by hand, this effort continuing until 1972. At this time Ziggy Kyzelis, a printer, joined the club, and we surely needed a printer at the right price. The content of the magazine has always been good, my favourite articles are the two written by "Mr" Bernard Morgan in the late 60's, namely "The Trial of Jim Khana" and "The Coming of Kon Kors". Both should be written up in sump oil and framed. (These two articles were recently published in April 2001 magazine edition).

The first of the Club Registers (XK Register) fired up in 1969 at Croydon at the home of the parents of Ian Hutchinson. We operated outside the Club for a period, however in January 1970, we were welcomed into the JDCA. Registers as a general rule handle specific problems re maintenance, spare  parts using member's collective knowledge. Self help and sharing of information is the backbone of any Register. Three other registers came online, Push Rods (SS) January 1975 with Neil Gilbert as secretary, The Independent Rears (MKX, 420G, 420, S Type, XJ6 and XJ12) with John Martin as secretary in February 1977.

Chris Curran, Don Hyslop and John Thompson started the MKI & MKII Register in 1976 with Chris as first secretary. In the early 80's the MKVII, VIII, IX Register came on board with Bill O'Donnell as secretary assisted by David Ellis.

Gaining our independence from the Jaguar Drivers Club of England was prompted by their increase in fees. The English Club provided a monthly magazine, which came by surface mail, and if you owned an XK, you also received the XK Bulletin by the same method. They also provided club regalia, ties, scarfs, lapel and car badges, however their annual fees were higher than our own, and we pressed for a reduction but to no avail. Ian Hutchinson drafted the motion "that we become independent but members could maintain their English Club membership privately". The debate was held openly at the General Meeting November 1975 and the motion was passed.

The Club really came of age and with more funds (annual fee $15.00) we were financially much better equipped. Careful management was still essential and every event needed to break even or show a profit with a number of excellent treasurers in Doug Rea and Paul Downes. Going independent also meant some members received a rebate on their fees, and Paul devised a "reverse incremental costing system" that worked.

Don Hyslop and Ian Hutchinson designed a new Club Badge; the first one being diecast but didn't pass the road test. Next was pressed metal and the forerunner of the present design but on a pseudo wire wheel.

A selection of club magazines... click photo for a larger view

How to get out of being President. Jim Byrne and later John Thomas were my secretaries. I had spent 10 years on the Club's Committee serving my apprenticeship as XK Register Secretary for 6 years, Vice President and Secretary 1 year each and finally President for 3 years. The last year I was rather tired and I needed to retire but the club required an experienced person for the President. John Thomas was the heir apparent but wouldn't do the job unless I became co-ordinator of the 10th National Concours in 1979. I wanted this job like the proverbial hole in the head but I still said yes!

The location for the event was usually in an established country town like Mildura, Griffith or Canberra to equalise to some extent the distance the members had to travel on the June long weekend, but hard on the organising club if it didn't live on site. So we had a team discussion, Ian Cummins, Paul Downes and Ian Hutchinson, and it was decided that Sydney would be the venue. Cummo set out to score the Opera House for the Concours, and to this day, we still don't know how he did it!

Cummo was a natural to organise the Concours, Paul (Feather) Downes was treasurer, Alan Hunter and Rob McLaughlin set up the observation run, Glennis and Brian Harrison the bus tour through Sydney and Ian Hutchinson organised accommodation at the Gazebo, Kings Cross. The grand parade went well, nobody got lost; the police did an excellent job. The Presentation Dinner was naturally at the Gazebo.

John Ratter won the Concours with his near perfect E-Type Roadster.  Leyland Australia and the late Ron Hodgson sponsored the Concours. With the usual creative accounting by Paul, overnight, we were able to make a profit as well as pass on $400 to the Canberra Club so they could kick start their promotion for the 1980 Concours.

We had spare parts and a tool kit. The spare parts were usually surplus stock from either Leyland Australia or Brysons, and we had a garage full of bits at one stage, which were definitely obsolete parts by the time the members had their pick, so we sent the balance off to Canberra. Ian Boughton later thanked me privately for the 200 wiper blades. Geoff Sara and Don Hyslop were the ministers in charge of spares and later in the 70's developed the tool kit, which included torque wrench, compression gauge, ring compressors and wheel pullers.

The box trailer was built up by Steve Sulis, measuring 8'x4' with four wheels and a canvas top. Also it had 2 large removable signs with the Club's badge, which happily survived and were on display at a recent Concours. The trailer didn't survive the next committee and it was raffled off, I didn't buy a ticket!

The Club had a Notice Board for members selling or buying Jaguars or spare parts. At the end of each General Meeting, if a deal hadn't been struck on the night, the Editor picked up the notices and  they subsequently appeared in the next magazine.

Making a club work needs a lot of volunteers, the ladies have always played an important part in the Club's functioning at all levels including the committee. Frances Stone was our secretary in the early 70's, (driving a MKII to the school where she taught) reading the minutes at each General Meeting with theatrical skill and would move her eyebrows with the best.

Lorna Kyzelis was a dedicated Social Secretary organising a huge Foundation Dinner at downtown Croydon Park. Most of the Bryson executives were there including John Bryson, and it was a great night (except for the chicken).

Ros McLoughlin was another hard worker, coming to notice the night I proposed a Ladies Auxiliary to help run events. Well, Ros made it quite clear that it was simply not on and that idea was quickly shelved. Ros subsequently became a Committee Member as well as Editor later in the 80's.

Sue Martin, besides raising two children and falling pregnant during her term as Editor in 1978, had previously been our Social Secretary. Then as the one and only Lady Vice President up till now she organised the Annual Concours at Cropley House, Baulkham Hills in 1981. Now has a grandson Aston Guy Martin.

Diana du Cross in 1976 became the only lady to become both Club Champion as well as Ladies Champion. As previously stated she won the State and National Titles as well as driving her E-Type 4.2 with a lot of success. We believed in equal opportunities for ladies in the 70's.

Acknowledgements

Terry and Janet Watters who kindly lent me the photos and early magazines.
Don Hyslop regarding the MKVII, MKVIII Register and confirmation on the MKI & MKII Register.
Geoff Frost for general help and knowledge

The passion of those early members is still in the Club today. 

As Kate Kennedy McKnight stated last year , plagiarising a certain former President of the USA,
                "its not what your Club can do for you- but what can you do for your Club."


Ian Hutchinson

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