Rare Jaguar features in new book
1936 model has been in NZ since it was new
Acar with history has made it into a book celebrating the 100th anniversary of the origins of the Jaguar car. Bruce Hutchinson’s 1936 2.5 litre Jaguar SS is believed to be one of only two in the country.
He has owned it since 2002, although it has been in New Zealand virtually since new.
“There were three young ladies who were known as the Three Stooges in Masterton and they went over to the Olympia Motor Show [in London] nearly every year and one of them would buy a new car. They were quite well heeled,” says Bruce.
One of them was reportedly looking for a replacement for her Auburn Speedster.
“The next time they went over [to the motor show] one of them spotted the Jaguar.”
The Jaguar name had been introduced in 1935 as a model manufactured by SS Cars, but Jaguar became the manufacturer’s name due to the connotations of SS in Hitler’s Germany.
The saloon version was new at the 1936 show, and the sister bought one.
“She waited a few months and it finished up in Wellington on the wharf from where she drove it to Masterton.”
Soon afterwards, and Bruce is not certain why, it was sold to a station owner in Featherston who used it “sparingly”.
Post war, the car changed hands again, bought by Phil Andrews who owned the Alvis agency in Palmerston North.
“He had it for 14 years as a young fella. He is officially recorded in the Manawatu Car Club as doing over 100 miles per hour in it as he raced a 1935 Velocette motorcycle.”
Getting married, he sold the car to pay the deposit on a house.
It then had a couple of owners in Whanganui before ending up in the hands of Ian Archibald from Christchurch, who held the local Jaguar agency.
He brought it to the Bay of Plenty in 1995 for that year’s Classic Car All British Day.
“Because he wasn’t using it very often because he had a large quantity of cars, he left it at Te Puke Auto Barn on display.
“I used to go out there quite regularly and one day saw a little for sale sign on it — and 48 hours later it was in my shed,” says Bruce.
Bruce says he would have to wear gloves to touch an American car and much prefers those produced in England.
“It’s just the English engineering was pretty good in those days — generally speaking it was superior to American engineering — Americans were into mass production.”
He can trace his attraction to Jaguars to mowing lawns as a high school student.
Classic Jaguars in New Zealand – Grace Space Pace, was launched at a 100th anniversary celebration at Classic Fliers Museum last weekend organised by the Jaguar Drivers Club (Bay of Plenty).
The book project has been a major voluntary project by enthusiasts and has been written by Richard Waugh.
“The woman I was mowing lawns for had a 1959 or 1960 Mk I Jaguar. She has a 2.4 litre and her husband had a 3.4 litre and I always used to admire those cars, so that’s where the Jaguar bug came from.”
The car hasn’t been idle since Bruce bought it, it has been to Invercargill and back and to Nelson and back.
“It’s not a concourse car by any means, but it’s in good ‘oily rag’ condition. It’s never done very many miles — it still has its original mileage and it’s only done 104,000 miles.”
The car has some of its original paint in places and has always been well looked after.
“It’s still got its original upholstery — it’s had a little bit of work done on the body because it’s a wooden frame. It’s a pretty well known car in Jaguar circles.”
In contrast, the other New Zealand example has undergone a restoration that has taken 20 years.
“They are very difficult to restore because they were coach-built so you could take the door of this one and it would be different to the door of another — the parts are not really interchangeable.”