News / Articles

LA JOC Concours - May 20, 2018
Champion Class, Driven Class, Display

Jaguar Owners Club members, if you haven’t already registered for the IJF Santa Barbara Event time and space are running out! We are at 171 attendees with 250 as our maximum number of participants.

The “All Aboard and Margarita Fiesta” was a wonderful event and we missed you guys! The weather gods brought us warm temperatures, 85 degrees. The day started at the Jaguar Land Rover Training Center with 38 members, 21 beautiful Jags and a couple of Land Rovers were all queued-up in the parking lot.

Hello Jaguar Owners Club Members, you missed a great time in the Southern Sierra, Sequoia National Park and the town of Three Rivers. The weather was perfect, and the company was brilliant. There were 40+ Jaguar Club enthusiastic from the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento Clubs in attendance. The Lazy J Motel was our host and official event center. Our Club started the annual retreat to the Sequoias back in the mid 1980’s when Bernie Mesco and myself visited the Sequoia Park on a holiday weekend. We immediately fell in love with the area and the town of Three Rivers with its quaint shops, fresh air, snow feed river, terrific eateries and the Sequoia forest. Dorothy (Prez) and Howard Smith (hubby) organized the San Fran group with over 30+ members and their Jaguars leaving from Gilroy and arriving in the late afternoon.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Richard and Karen Radtke about their gorgeous Jaguar XK140 which they have owned for 50 years! As Karen explained, Richard got the car in 1968 as a graduation gift…well sort of.

As I write this memoir at my "retirement" residence in the island Republic of Cyprus, I have fond memories of the many fine people I was privileged to know during the years I was active in the JOCLA. In particular, I recall the late Bill Streitenberger, who could best be described as “Mr. Jaguar Los Angeles.”

August is here and the beginning of the hot season. A famous local weatherman once said he had the best job in the world. He was the weatherman in a place with no weather. Well, we do have weather now-extreme heat in Southern Cal. and fires in the Santa Barbara area once again. This may be a good time to check your antifreeze level (does antifreeze make sense in this context?) and your cooling system in general, especially if you have an old Jag.

The JCNA International Jaguar Festival 2018 is on track to be a very successful event indeed. As of this Newsletter we have over 148 attendees participating in most of the events.

Well, it is again that time of year for those individuals who would like to step up to the next level of their interest and dedication to the Jaguar Clubs of North America, and consider seeking the office of Regional Director and serving on the Board of Directors of JCNA.

The International Jaguar Festival in Santa Barbara is coming up this fall.

The kick-off event is a private JOC tour of the Petersen Museum’s Vault and dinner, sponsored by yours truly and Heacock Classic Car Insurance.

I thought I would share some photos from Steve’s Jaguar in Canoga Park. Not only do they take care of my S-Type R, they are also a long-time advertiser in the Tales. I send my friends and clients to him, and they are always treated well.

June is here, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL! It’s time to think of summer plans and for the second half of the year!

By now you’ve seen the striking Jaguar I-Pace.

The good news is that it appears that Jaguars sultry prototype, the all-electric, all-wheel drive, SUV is going to be produced.

Hello fellow JOC Members, As many of you may have heard, I am leaving for a six month “sabbatical” in England in a few weeks. The XK150 is already on the water and will be there when I arrive. I have rented a cottage in the Cotswold’s (sheep and wool country) and am looking forward to attending a number of Jaguar Club events over the summer as well as the vintage races at Silverstone and Goodwood.

Spring is here but we are still having start up problems for 2018. We are in a period of turnover as we have had several Board members complete their service and two other Board members are out of the country for extended periods. Several things have fallen through the cracks but we think we have found them all and are moving forward.

The year was 1972. I had just graduated from college and was the proud owner of a 1958 Jaguar XK150, which I purchased the year earlier for $600. Needless to say, it was no Concours queen, but I was young, single and a rather dashing sort….

Longnose D-type Body $48,000 (Item no. 122839093789)

CASA SANCHEZ, on the Eastside is a well-known Mexican food “joint” in Long Beach. Everybody goes there at some point in time to have their real Mexican food fix. I’ve seen the LB Mayor, City Manager, lawyers, college students, bus drivers, mothers with strollers, homeless people, and even biker gang members testing the salsa or discussing City issues. Somehow this place attracts everyone and its neutral territory with no written rules.

As I write this just before Thanksgiving there are several things be thankful for and to look forward to. Among the many things to be thankful for, one is that it has been a good year for the JOC.