The Cat Tale
A Publication of the Jaguar Club of Tulsa, Inc.
May, 2004


  LET THE SHOWS BEGIN ! 

            Spring rolls around faster than you realize and here we are with two Concours in the month of May.  The first will be in Oklahoma City and the second in Kansas City.  You should have received your brochures by now but if you haven’t, contact the people who are listed in the following articles.

 MAY 21st thru May 23RD

COJA  SPRING CONCOURS & SLALOM

            The Saturday show will be held in “Automobile Ally”, the park directly across the street from the sponsor, Jaguar of Oklahoma City. 

            There will be a Registration/Hospitality reception for participants on Friday evening at the dealership where light deli style snacks will be served.  Costs to register a car for the show is $30 for the first car and $5 for each additional car.  Cars registered after May 15th will incur a $5.00 late fee.   

 The Saturday Awards Dinner will be served at 7:00 p.m. the Cox Convention Center.  Dinner choices will be Beef Cardenas or Pecan Chicken and the cost is $15.00 per person.      

Sunday - Slalom

The JCNA slalom will be held at Remington Park and as an added attraction it will be in conjunction with an SCCA Solo II slalom.  Registration for the JCNA slalom is $25 per car.  If you care to try your hand at the SCCA slalom you can register on site with their officials for $20. 

Register now and plan for a fun weekend in OKC.  If you need a brochure contact Connie Farthing – (405) 623-6281 or e-mail her at csfarthing@stgregorys.edu.     

            Since you have the car all cleaned up from the COJA show you can take the short drive north the following weekend to Kansas City for the Heart of America Jaguar Club annual Concours.

 

MAY 28TH thru MAY 30TH

HOAJC CONCOURS AND SLALOM

            The venue for the show will once again be the beautiful Hallmark Crown Center right downtown.  The area with its park like setting and fountains is directly across the street from the host hotel, the Westin Crown Center. 

            Registration costs for the show is $40 and a second car can be registered for $30.  Registration must be in by May 10 or a $10 late fee will apply.

            The Saturday evening dinner will be at the Herford House, downtown.  Dinner choices will be Filet Mignon for $38, Teriyaki Chicken, $25 or Cedar-planked Salmon for $33.  There will be bus transportation to the restaurant.

 

Sunday – Slalom

            This year there will be a JCNA slalom held in conjunction with the show.  An opportunity to build on what you learned last week at the slalom in OKC!  The slalom will be held at the Kansas Speedway and costs $10 per car. 

            If you need a brochure on this show or more information call Barry Greenstein at (913) 381-8211 (days) or (913) 685-2213 (eve.) or e-mail him at barrysjag@businessdynamicsinc.com.   

            What a way to start the show season, 2 weekends in a row and you are 2/3rds of the way to the 3 show requirement to be in JCNA National competition.  The car will still be clean from the COJA show so you can fix up any little flaw noticed in their show and be perfect for the HOJAC weekend.  Get those registrations sent in today!  


  

SATURDAY, MAY 1 BREAKFAST

SHERATON HOTEL – 41ST & GARNETT 

            Get your Jaguar out and head to the Sheraton at 9:00 am and meet with your fellow Jag drivers for breakfast.  It is a great way to get your weekend started.   See you there!


 

BEEN WORKING ON YOUR PICTURES? 

            Remember back in March the list of sites of interest in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri?  The game is “Where is the Jaguar?” and you are to be visiting some of those sites and taking pictures of your car.  You could win a nice prize at the end of the year!   

            In case you misplaced the list, it is available on our club web site at www.ionet.net/~willjag.  The weather is great and vacation time is here.  Include some of these places on your trips.      


   

            EVENTS NOT TO BE MISSED!           

The month of May is largely taken up with Concours weekends but there are great things on the schedule for the future.  Here is just a little info to “wet your appetite” so to speak. 

June 26-27 – Pig Out in Arkansas! 

Alan Jefferson and some of our Arkansas members have been hard at work planning this great weekend that will include lots of scenic drives, great food, interesting places and lots of good friends.   

The driving part will include meeting up with the Arkansas/Missouri friends at 10:00 on Saturday morning in Tontitown and then continuing on the winding back roads to Altus and the Wiederkehrs Winery for lunch.   

After a leisurely break for lunch we will continue on to Lowell, Arkansas to the Jefferson’s home where we will have sumptuous evening meal of pit roasted pork.   

For those who choose to stay the night (who wants to get back in the car now?) Alan has made arrangements for rooms at the Baymont Inn in Springdale.  The room rate will be $60.99 for 2 beds or $64.99 for a king. The phone number is (479)751-2626 and be sure to mention the British Car Club.       

 

October 1st, 2nd, & 3rd   

The Annual Fall Fling 

Scheduled for the first weekend in October this year, the Tulsa Club is planning a “European Style Motoring Weekend”.  There will be more details forthcoming but here is just a short description of some of the things we will be doing: 

Day one; we will meet at one of the "worlds most famous" Italian spaghetti parlors for an early lunch at 11:30 hours.    After lunch, for those that can still get back into their cars, there will be a "fuel top up" stop followed by a slow and leisurely drive through some of the Southwest's truly magnificent scenery, video cameras optional, but recommended.  Evening, its "party time" (B.Y.O.B.& B.) with some ol' friends. 

Day two, Saturday, breakfast, "fuel top up" again, followed by a short and leisurely drive for an early lunch, it is suggested that you "eat lite".   After lunch its off to play in the dirt.  It is strongly recommended that you have; 1) shovel,  2) rake,  3) trowel,  4) flashlight,  5) pair of knee pads, gloves and a sun hat,  6) a large bottle of water and some energy bars, you figure it out.  Evening, after a bit of a rest and a clean up, its banquet time, followed by a welcomed nights sleep. 

Day three, Sunday, breakfast, "fuel top up" for the last time, followed by another leisurely scenic drive to our lunch and "watering hole" stop.  After lunch and an all too short visit, of the seeming endless variety of refreshing samplings provided by our hosts, it will be time to bid fond farewells until next time. Hopefully, everybody can find their way back home.  

We are making some information known now so that our friends in the OKC (COJA) and Dallas (JOASW) clubs can make sure they have set this weekend aside for some great driving fun. Look for more details in coming newsletter but mark this weekend on your calendar now so you don’t miss out on the fun.


 

JAGUAR MAGAZINE 

            (Ed. Note:)This announcement recently appeared on the JCNA web site so all members can look forward to finding this magazine in their mailboxes soon. 

Very shortly, all JCNA members will be receiving Jaguar Magazine, Jaguar's upscale, lifestyle magazine featuring articles and advertisements specifically tailored to the taste and needs of Jaguar owners and prospects. 

Published three times per year, our complimentary $24.00 subscription is a $144,000 expression of increased good will between Jaguar Cars, North America and the JCNA 

Mr. Richard Beattie, Executive VP for Sales & Marketing and keynote speaker at the 2003 Challenge Championship banquet in Phoenix, invited your JCNA representatives to meet with him at Jaguar headquarters last fall, where this agreement was reached.  It far exceeded our expectations and we are delighted with this gesture. 

Here is a wonderful opportunity for JCNA members to help Jaguar sell cars, by putting our copy of Jaguar (after we’ve read it) into the hands of friends and neighbors who are potential luxury car buyers!  This is our chance to demonstrate that “support” works both ways and that we are all Jaguar brand advocates. 

So, we hope that you will enjoy receiving this magazine, and are certain that your help will have a positive impact on Jaguar's sales.


 

THE ADVENTURES OF “STAN THE JAGUAR MAN”  – Stan Lacky 

In the next few months I hope to entertain you with the story of my Series I Jag restoration.  This first installment of my story may not be as exciting as the additional ones to come, but I think that knowing some of the back round of my lunacy will help you to understand my logic(?) in this project.  To help you understand my rebuilding mania I would like to share some of the goals that my project has started out with. 

Goals:

            1. Build, and install a new 260+ Hp. Motor into my 1971 series I XJ6.

            2. Install a GM 700 R4 four speed overdrive transmission, via a Johns Car’s quarter breed conversion kit.

     3. Rebuild the front suspension while installing several performance products / parts.

    4. Remove all body rot and repaint the car with a base coat, clear coat (two stage) hand rubbed show quality paint job. 

 

Sound simple ? It sure did to me! I now know better, believe me! The saga begins: 

In about 1976 my twin brother bought a beautiful red 140 DHC Jag while I, not being as patient with saving money, ended up with a lovely (13,000 original miles) 1953, Austin Healy 100-4. That 1953 Healy 100-4 was my first real car, and while I loved the performance, the fun of driving it, as well as it’s fuel economy, I can now admit some 25+ years later, that I sure did like that Jag; his Jag. 

During this period of adult adolescence, I became a true lover of sports cars. Of course growing up in sunny southern California didn’t hurt either. Here I was not limited by seasonal changes or foul weather that limits many other sports car fans to spring, summer, and fall driving only. I was able to enjoy (and loved) a full 12 month sports car experience for 20 years!  As time went by I out grew the little Healy and migrated on to other kinds of sports cars. Mostly those with roll up windows, AC, and am-fm radios!! Yes, I had the 240 Zs’, and a obligatory southern California 911 Porsche, but all the time what I really wanted was a V-12 E-Type rag top.  

A number of years later I finally decided to indulge myself and look for a Jag. While my initial search was for a V-12-E type, they were a bit pricey for me and upon reflection what I wanted was a smooth riding V-12 rag top and the XJS-Convertible seemed to fit the bill nicely. Having been introduced to E-bay (God help me !!!), and with my new goal constantly in mind, I began my quest in earnest. Well, suffice it to say that about 3 weeks and a plane ride later I was the proud owner of a beautiful 1990 (52K on the odometer) V-12, XJS-Convertible! 

This is the beginning of my Jag story, as well as the beginning of my Jaguar restoration story. 

During all of my sports car years I had been deemed (rather unkindly I might add) by my friends as “Sedan Stan”. This moniker was assigned to me primarily because while I always had a sports car, I also teamed it up with a 4 door something. I liked a combo because it always made sense to me that it was more fun to take 3 extra friends to the party, than just one! 

A few years ago I made several changes in my life. The biggest one was moving from southern California to Oklahoma. The second biggest change was to purchase and move onto an unimproved  55 acres of land in Creek county. This information is only important because it’s to this unimproved  parcel of land that I brought my newly acquired XJS-C.  It didn’t take long to realize that my 600 foot driveway and the ½ mile graveled county road was not the friendliest of environments for my Jag! 

I decided that what I really needed was a little sedan just for "town trips" thus sparing my XJS a daily beating on graveled roads.  I mentioned this to John McKeel of Jaguar services of Tulsa and he let me know that he had listed a Series I XJ6 sedan for a customer on E-bay.  While he didn't know a lot about the XJ6 sedan, he had driven it and it looked like a pretty fair deal for $1,800.00.  

I liked the car, but was shocked by how primitive it was when I first drove it. It reminded me of a cross between my old 1953 Austin Healy 100-4, with the smell of old leather and the ride, while being just a bit like my 911 sc (3.0). I was also shocked when I found that little Series I would out run my V12!   Well needless to say I fell in love with this sedan. The "hoopie" that it was supposed to be my daily driver.  

Things went along quite well for a while then the car started to consume oil in massive quantities.  I soon discovered that the valves were blowing the rings out due to a defective valve job someone had done prior to my buying the car.  Bummer!  Looking back I think that is when reason went out the window and emotion took over.  The previous year I had been introduced to slalom racing in my XJS.  Not only was this great fun but I was actually competitive nationally with my times. If my Series I needed some engine work, why not step it up a bit and make a really competitive slalom car?  Scott Young had done something similar with his Series II XJ6L and look at all the fun he was having.  So having been bitten by the slalom bug I decided to rebuild my Series I XJ6 in to one hot slalom car.  Ahh, the slippery slope! 

Next month: It Only Takes Money    


  

CLASSIFIED ADS

Classified ads are free to club members.  To place an ad, e-mail to mmra@gte.net or call (918) 258-8320.

 Lost & Found – I have 2 towels that were left at the Haikey Creek Park picnic.  I they are yours, please call me to claim them.  Linda (918)258-8320 or mmra@gte.net

For Sale –1991 XJS v-12 convertible -  Champagne color (Jaguar calls it Oyster). Car is currently in storage and is in very fine all original condition and is located in Sand Springs, OK.  Mileage is low 60’s.  $13,000.  Call Bill Trenkle – (918) 245-1956

 “Jaguar, the Classic Marque” by Steve Kennedy.  This definitive book on Jaguar automobiles will make a wonderful present for the Jaguar lover on your list.  The book is available for $79.95.  There are some special editions, slip cased, signed and/or leather slip cased still available.  You can get all the information and order the book on line at http://www.jaguarbooksite.com