All Jaguars are welcome, and the occasional Daimler too, as Jaguars on the Island celebrates 15 years of its JCNA-sanctioned Concours d’Elegance and Jaguar car show in Oak Bay.
Oak Bay’s Dennis Brammer of Oak Bay is among those who takes his cars to the Jaguar shows, seeing as they’re made by Jaguar.
Daimler started in 1895 but in 1960 the Jaguar factory caught fire and Daimler weren’t doing very well so the parent company sold to Jaguar.
Those were the cars that drew Brammer’s attention as a young man growing up in England.
“They came out in 1959, I saw one in 1961 when I started university, I coveted one and it took me another 40 years before I could afford one,” Brammer said. “I’d always wanted one because when they came out the had a glass fibre body, and a V-8 hemispherical combustible engine, they were about the fastest motor car in production. The metropolitan police I think had 26 of them, and the noise they made was phenomenal.”
He has a 1964 (right hand drive), in red that looks an awful lot like fictional character Inspector Morse’s Mark II, with only hints that it’s a Daimler, and the sporty 1961 SP250 in white. Both have been in the Jaguars on the Island previously.
“It’s billed as one of the largest, if not the largest collection of Jaguars that come together in the whole of North America,” Brammer said.
“There’s camaraderie, and it’s just a matter of showing up with a car. No one seems to matter what condition it is in, even though they have a Concourse event, where if you’ve got enough Q-tips and enough time on your hands and knees you might win a prize.”
He prefers to drive his cars, taking them to work (before retirement), as a static plaything for the grandchildren, and rallying.
About 120 Jaguar automobiles of all ages are expected to share the field at Windsor Park on July 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All net proceeds of the event benefit the Victoria Hospice Foundation. Food will provided by the Lions Club concession trailer.
This year’s featured model is the E-Type.
For more information on JOTI 2018 visit jaguarcarclub.ca.
editor@oakbaynews.com
