The Challenge, at the bottom of this news letter is a quiz for anyone who thinks they can identify classic cars! Click Here.

RECENT EVENTS:
THE SAJC LUCKENBACH RALLY
In the early morning rain, on January 27th, three JCOH teams headed west to compete in the San Antonio Jaguar Club’s 18th Annual Luckenbach Rally. As the teams drove west, the sky cleared and the weather improved.

The first JCOH team was Tom and Danika Ostrowski. The second JCOH team was Pat Phillips and Chris Goldsmith. The final team consisted of JCOH member Dave Belanger and Heart of America Jaguar Club member Cynthia Loveall. The Ostrowski team had won this rally in 2006. The Belanger/Loveall team was the defending JCNA National Champion team in the T2 Division. The Phillips/Goldsmith team was the defending JCNA National Champion team in the T2N Division.

When registration and the Driver’s Meeting were complete, twenty-eight teams prepared to begin the event from the starting point in Blanco. Once the rally began, the competitors discovered that the new route provided a spectacular scenic drive. Twenty-seven of the twenty-eight teams finished the event in Luckenbach.

The Ostrowski team finished 14th. The Phillips/Goldsmith team (hoorah, our dashing Hero’s I hear you call!) finished 16th. The Loveall/Belanger team finished 20th. There was a tie for the Driver Proficiency Award between Cynthia Loveall and Jim Hockstadt of the San Antonio Club. If you have not participated in this event, you should plan to participate next year.

JCOH GOES ITALIAN (NO NOT CARS)
The JCOH celebrated its annual dinner, social and business meeting (formerly known as the AGM), in the Tuscany Room of Maggiano’s Little Italy. With 61 members in attendance, this event was one of the largest annual meetings in club history. The fellowship and food were outstanding!

The attendees enjoyed viewing a portion of Mike Cook’s collection of Jaguar memorabilia as well as the Distinguished Service Award given to Patrick McLoad last year. The Houston Zoo Jaguar Program was announced as the club’s charity for 2007. We were fortunate to have as guest speakers, Rick Barongi and Lona Leigh from the Houston Zoo to discuss the Houston Zoo’s jaguar program. A silent auction of Houston Zoo jaguar posters and three paintings actually done by the jaguars raised almost $1000.00.

Outgoing President Dave Belanger reviewed the club’s increase in activities and participation during his presidency. Thanks, Dave! In addition, Dave discussed the upcoming JCNA Annual General Meeting hosted by JCOH. While a number of members have volunteered to staff the meeting’s activities, volunteer opportunities are still available. Besides the hospitality room, technical sessions and the closing banquet, a highlight will be a Friday night, March 23rd visit to John Quinn’s private collection of over 750 antique, exotic and specialty vehicles, followed by a barbeque at St. Arnold’s Brewery. All club members are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to view one of America’s largest private auto collections.

The following were elected as officers for 2007; Chris Goldsmith, President; Bobby Gillham, Vice President; Terese Verklan, re-elected as Secretary; and Keith Owen re-elected as Treasurer, with Sheila as a bonus! Post meeting note as nobody offered to stand as communications officer Pat Phillips took up the position again!!

Chris presented a partial proposed calendar of events for 2007. As new events are added, or changes occur, the calendar posted on the web site will be updated. This year’s calendar continues the recent trend of adding more driving events and events with other area clubs.

And Now Children a Tale so dark you had better use the bathroom before you read on……….Everything OK now? Well just in case get a Handkerchief or a Box of Kleenex!!

Introduction and mean editorial by yours truly. If you think it cruel, bitter or envious you can pat yourself on the back for being intuitive.
Now where was I? ah yes the character assassination!

A Grim Fairy Tale, not wanting to give the game away but The Troll takes the cake

Somewhere in a dark magical forest sometimes know as “The Woodlands” our erstwhile Hero (The Troll) was shuffling Ferrari pictures & Slime Green Paint schemes………….It all started with an innocent call a couple of weeks before Christmas………………cut to dreamy music & spinning scenes……exciting isn’t it?….

A guy, who used to belong to our local wine club a couple of years back, called me and asked about my knowledge on E-types?

Obviously not the sharpest pencil in the box!!

He told the Troll he had been tipped off about a Jaguar E-type Coupe with low mileage sitting in a garage in Baytown for the past 30 years or so.( Please !!)

(Ok I will let the story flow from the Keyboard as it was intended, but this could be such a Grim Fairy story! But I will add the occasional comment)

As the car had been described to him, it was in good shape, of course not running after 30 years in storage, but he figured a quick fix was possible, and that he could put a little work and money into the car, and flip it for some easy profit. I lent him one of my books on E-types, wished him good luck, and took off for a Ferrari-heavy week in Italy. Upon the Troll’s return, the guy came by the house on December 23, dropping off the book. He didn’t go for it, as he was nervous about whether the engine was frozen and the cost for reviving it.

A few more details surfaced:
The car, a 1966 E-type, FHC, the coveted Ser I, dark blue and blue leather was indeed parked in a dry garage under a cover. The car was purchased in 1966, and then driven 19,032 miles before the owner had a stroke in 1977. The car had been parked (with the shopping box of booze on the passenger seat still there), where he left it in his garage of his house in Baytown in 1977. The owner had passed away; his son and widow had finally decided it was time to sell the car. The car was complete, never wrecked and with some history of track racing.

Couldn’t possibly be true, - those kind of “barn finds” are extremely rare, and surely not an hour from my house!

A few ancient Nordic Chants later.

Our Troll was ready! (Ed)
Well, within the hour the very same day I picked up the ball where the other guy left it, called the seller-to-be, who confirmed everything. A quick call to Patrick McLoad and both of us took off to Baytown the next morning on December 24. At this point I should mention that we as Danes still celebrate Christmas on the 24th and Christmas Eve rather than the 25th in the morning (where we sleep in). As you can imagine, cancelling all family plans this day, including visits to friends and church, to spend the better of the day inspecting an old car was a hugely popular decision, embraced with sheer joy by the family… Since I had just returned from a weeks’ business in Italy (if you ask my wife she labeled it as a weeks’ car trip with a couple of days work included) two days earlier, you could say I was perhaps pushing the envelop alarming close to the divorce zone! Done that before and heading south to my meeting point with Patrick on I-10, I thought this better be bloody good. Although no damage is normally worse than any well-assorted jewelry store can handle, I knew I was pulling heavy on the family’s goodwill this day. Patrick too for that matter. It better be damn good. And it was.

We found a complete car, matching numbers, no rust whatsoever, panels as straight as they come from Coventry, great panel fit everywhere, paint looked dull, but OK less than 30 years of dust, and Patrick had great difficulties in hiding his growing enthusiasm as we inspected the car. Like when we found a complete tool kit, never used/never opened or original seat belt buckles he beamed like a Christmas tree. The owner had always been a Jaguar enthusiast, had owned an XK120 before replacing it with the E-type. He was affiliated with the Mecam racing team of the 1960’s, which eventually won Indy. The E-type was his baby, used for driving events, and as such kept in perfect order, a true enthusiast to the mark.

I left the guy my number, and told him I would think about it and call him back next day. When we drove off, Patrick was unusually quiet, and frankly, looked very concerned. Asked if he thought the car was worth the asking price and if it could be brought back to life without breaking the bank, I realized his concerns were of a completely different nature. Turned out he was already thinking about what to tell his wife in the event I didn’t buy the car, as in his own words “come Hell or high water, I will buy this car if you lucky SOB screw up this once in a lifetime chance”.

So, had I any doubt, the mere fact of facing the car - and the comments – in the future under Patrick’s ownership, was a disaster and a terrible thought. In addition I felt this car was worth saving and bringing back to the condition of the day it was left to die – as A DRIVER. So the last doubt was thereby blasted away, envisioning the car saved, and then turned into a twin to Patrick’s 1965 trailer queen. In that light, explaining the purchase to my wife seemed all of a sudden like a walk in the park. Those who know my lovely missus would, however and given the choice, probably opt for pulling teeth of a male tiger in the mating season rather than explaining that not only would I take 2 days out of scarce family Holiday time, but also that her car would remain parked outside the garage for say the next couple of years to the tune of the restoration cost of a rare 1966 Ser. 1 E-type….

So after a short negotiation, I made a deal with the owner, and Patrick and I went to Baytown to pick up the car between Christmas and New Year to move it to my garage in Kingwood. Concerned about moving the car out as it had been sitting on 4 flat tires for 30 years, we arrived armed with Patrick’s trailer, compressor, tools, 4 extra wire wheels, (spare wheels, courtesy of Mike Cook, Patrick and my Mark II..) and expectations to work hours before being able to get the car out. However, plan one was to inflate the tires with the compressor I brought along, speculating/hoping that at least one or two wheels would hold air. While Patrick almost fainted when he realized I was pumping 30+ year old tires up to 40 psi, like by a magic wand, all four tires inflated perfectly, and are still holding air to this day. As if the car really wanted to move out. And if we were a bit more spiritual than we really are, we would probably claim that this was meant to be, as the sky cleared, held its water for the 45 minutes it took to get the car in the trailer, and again the 30 minutes it took to get it out, - otherwise it rained cats and dogs the entire day.

So, on Friday December 29, the car saw the light of day for the first time in 30 years, and was pushed out of the garage to be received by its first admires – a bypassing modern Jaguar, who’s female driver immediately stopped, reversed to ask about this beautiful car. Even in this poor condition, the old remark about this car proved to be true: “Next to a limping St Bernard dog, nothing attracts female attention like arriving in a Jaguar Series 1 FHC…” . It was also a touching experience for the seller. He and his Dad were into British cars and racing, and he noted that it was great to see the car roll again after 30 years’ storage, and the faith that was now awaiting the car was what his dad really wanted. As if I needed any extra incentives, the car came with a fantastic bonus:

Full documentation, including a file with correspondence between the owner and both Jaguar in the UK and the US about Overseas Delivery Option prior to buying the car in 1965. Included was 1965 sales material, including not only factory brochures for the E-type, but the other Jaguar models in the line up that year, like the S-type and the Mark 10, price list – and a tourist brochure from “Going to Britain”. All intact, like new condition. Also, an extended Manual followed the car, and as the crown in the Jewel, I found all the original delivery information left intact in the car, from operation and service manuals over warranty certificate to original bill of sale. All documents issued to the owner at the same address that Patrick and I 40 years later picked up the car from. Even the certificate for the fire extinguisher, still with its 1966 tag on, followed the car. The car was ordered in March 1966, and delivered on June 2nd, 1966.

Now the hard core negotiations, no not the Viking way, that would have been too easy! Instead our err ummm Hero talked money !!

No painful details here but you need to understand the process

He said Yes !!

Truly a unique experience, a one of a kind story and what now awaits me is a step by step resurrection of the car, with the big question mark if the engine will turn or I’m facing a total – and expensive – engine rebuilt.

Although I never miss a chance to give Patrick a jab or two, let it here be known that without his gracious help, enormous knowledge and competence as far as E-type goes, I would for one never have realized what a diamond in the rough this is, and secondly, probably not entered into this venture. Thanks, Patrick!

And with Mike Cook around the corner in Kingwood as the other great E-type restoration specialist in the club, both of them will eventually – and probably - look forward to the day when I’m done with the car.

Lots of work ahead, but the goal for the restoration is not a "frame off",
but rather a preservation restoration, where I intend to keep as many
original parts and as much of its original condition as possible. Even if it
means cosmetic imperfections here and there, given the overall good
condition of the car, and the remarkable well documented history as a low
mileage, one owner car, it would be a shame to do a full restoration. As it
is said, you can restore the car many times, but it is only original once.
Not that I think any of you have any doubt, knowing my attitude to my Mark
2, but the E-type too, will be made a driver, taken to the road as often as
I can.

Again, great appreciations and thanks to Patrick for helping me evaluating
the car and moving it, - he may regret it one of these days after I have
asked for his help 49 times or more....! Stay tuned more to follow.

Name that car!
Ok dry your eye’s it’s only a story and I am sure if we all wish hard enough we will forget the harrowing detail eventually. Now a test….I took some interesting challenge pictures at Keels & wheels last year, I was trying to take my mind off the comment from one of the judges and this is what I did.

If your interested in the comment from the Judge, it was: “Is your engine modified?”, No ! I replied. Why do you ask? He pointed at Patrick McLoads Series 1 engine and asked “Why is your so different?”. Mine is a series 3, does anyone care to take a stab at why they “look” so different.

So frustrated, and fed up I turned my twisted mind to other things and here it is, the first in a series. Your challenge, Name the manufacturer and model car shown in the picture below. The prize is bragging rights for the first correct answer. Email me at the communications officer address and don’t blame me for your sleepless nights.

Title your Guess “January Name that Car”.