Jaguar club marks 30 years and car milestones

There will be some rare and beautiful cars on Bay of Plenty roads this weekend as the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club (Bay of Plenty) celebrates 30 years of car club activities.

About 40 Jaguars from throughout New Zealand are attending the Jaguar Anniversary Weekend with the programme including a celebration dinner, a group photo shoot, a tour to Omokoroa and a Sunday drive to the Rotorua Lakes.

The best opportunity for the public to view the full line-up of Tony Johnson, the secretary/treasurer of the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club (BOP), with his Jaguar XK140. cars — and a chance to vote in a “People’s Choice” award and raise funds for the TECT Rescue Helicopter Service — is on Saturday.

Over 40 Jaguars will be on show at Masonic Park, The Strand between 10am and 1pm. The display ranges the earliest car registered for this weekend’s event — a 1947 Mark IV — to E-Types, Mark 1 and Mark 2 saloon models and the latest 2019 Jaguar F-type R-Dynamic sports car.

Headline cars include a pair of C-Type replicas and a D-Type replica — each a New Zealandbuilt replica of the 1950s Le Mans 24 Hours winning sports cars — and one of only nine Continuation Series XK-SS models built in 2016 to the exact specification of the 1957 original which is on loan to the club for the event from Auckland businessman Michael Giltrap.

The XK-SS along with a selection of XK 120, XK 140 and XK 150 models puts the spotlight on the 70th anniversary of the XK 120 which launched the iconic XK sports car line.