50 th anniversary of the E Type Jamboree Queenstown 16 to 19 June 2011. By Jack Clough and Theo Alberda The long awaited Queenstown Jamboree to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launching of the E type finally arrived. The Natal Jaguar Drivers club was represented by no less than six E types, an XK 140 and a Daimler Double six. This is a sizeable portion of cars within the Durban branch of the club. The trip from Durban to Queenstown. The plan was to meet at the Umgababa Shell ultra city at 05 00 and depart no later than 05 30 and meeting up with David, Alan and Barbara Crookes down the road. The first of the early birds arrive at Shell Ultra city. The first leg took us to the toll plaza at Port Shepstone. Until this point we had driven in the dark, which was a concern to some as the head lights on the early E Type are notoriously poor. Some of us fitted Xenon headlights which were a great improvement but still much light was still lost due to the glass shrouds covering the lights. 1 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
Regrouping at the Port Shepstone toll plaza just after sun rise. From Port Shepstone we made our way to Kokstad. This was pretty uneventful and at Kokstad the opportunity was taken to fill up the cars, have breakfast and most importantly relieve the pressure elsewhere! The scenery on route was spectacular with snow capped mountains in the background, and really rugged landscape. How s this for erosion? 2 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
Some rock in this guy s front garden. Oh, and an interesting car in the foreground! The leg to Elliott included some sections of road with pot holes. In spite of attentive driving trying to dodge these some of us thumped our way through them but there were no serious consequences. It seems that in the Eastern Cape it is usual to have rumble strips and humps in the roads at the approach to their towns. This proved to be a real challenge to low slung and loaded E Types. Most of us had to cross diagonally over them and still scrapped our exhausts! Very strong cross winds were experienced over the last 100 Km or so before Queenstown. It was said that the winds were gusting in excess of 40KPH. In spite of much sand, dust and grass crossing our path none of the cars were adversely affected. At that stage we also encountered a short bout of heavy rain. Thankfully, some of us had decided to change our forty five year old wiper blades ahead of the journey. 3 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
Our accommodation in Queenstown. The Natal Jaguar Drivers Club booked us into the Burrough B and B. This proved to be a clean and comfortable establishment and the rates were excellent. The centre point for this Jamboree was the Queens hotel which was located a few minutes drive from our B and B. The E Types parked on the forecourt of The Burrough. Frost greeted us the following morning. Luckily we remembered to put anti freeze in the cooling systems! 4 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
The event The Northern Regions Jaguar club had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange events for the weekend. Starting with the evening of our arrival we enjoyed a very nice dinner at the Queens hotel where the opportunity was taken to hand out the commemorative jackets and meet the many Jaguar enthusiasts from the Northern Regions and the Cape Jaguar Club. For the following day various activities were arranged, a Treasure hunt around Queenstown in the morning, an E Type concours at 13 00 and a mass photograph of all the cars at 15 00, and then a braai in the evening hosted by the Queenstown Old Car club. 1. The treasure hunt. Each of the participants was given several pages with directions and some questions. Clues to the answers were to be found on route. This was an ideal opportunity to explore this quaint town. Besides the historical landmarks like Queens College it was interesting to see the houses and streets, some from the colonial era to the most modern. It was striking that most of the houses had no barbed wire or electric fences around them! Clearly the crime rate there must be low. One of Queenstown s more famous landmarks Queens College. Jack can be seen taking in the spectacle. 5 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
2. The Concours. The E Type concours was planned for 13 00 hrs. Many of us realised our cars were nowhere near concours condition but decided to go along anyway to enjoy the spectacle. As we arrived we were herded into the concours line-up whether we liked it or not! All E Types were in! When the judges lifted the bonnets, some felt rather embarrassed!! 3. The mass photograph. Some of the E Types lined up for the concours At 15 00 hrs the organisers commenced with the line-up of cars in preparation for the mass photograph. Cars were arranged adjacent to the helipad with the oldest cars in the front. Once the E Types had been positioned, all twenty three of them, and photographed, the other Jaguar types were positioned around them and a photo taken of all the cars with their owners. Total number of Jaguars, including the E Types, was forty three!. A spectacular sight!! 6 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
The mass photograph. After the mass photo every one drifted off to the Queenstown Automobile Club bar. Their club house is conveniently situated behind the airfield hanger. It just happened that the hanger was open and many took advantage to look around. Amongst the more modern aircraft was also a Chipmunk and Tiger Moth. Evening braai. That evening we were hosted by Queenstown Automobile Car club to a braai. They put on a great show! The steaks were impressive. The following day there was a choice of two events. One was to the local game reserve and the other a visit to the Stutterheim motor museum. Open barricaded bakkies were laid on for the game drive. It was very cold but our hosts had thought of that, and on route stopped at the local bottle store to get a supply of sherry to warm the cockles of the heart. The drive was very pleasant and a variety of buck, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Zebra and Ostrich was seen. There was much laughter and the morning was enjoyed by all. 7 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
Stutterheim Motor Museum. Some of the game drive participants Most of the men decided they wanted to drive the hundred or so kilometres to visit the Stutterheim museum. The display was mostly of static farm engines from small to very large. It was a very worthwhile trip and some of the ancient engines had been used to power small towns with electricity. The starting procedure of some of the engines was very interesting, and labour intensive. Saturday Evening Dinner and prize giving. The evening dinner and prize giving was again held at the Queens hotel. The speeches commenced with a moments silence in memory of Johan Strauss, a good friend and fellow Jaguar enthusiast from Dundee who had been attacked and beaten up on 19 April and was in a coma in hospital until his death on 17 June. We were all saddened by his death. The concours winners were announced. The 3.8 litre Series one Roadster took first prize and quite deservedly so. After supper some shared interesting experiences they have had with their Jaguars. Our side was not let down as Barry told a very interesting story. The dinner and company was most enjoyable. 8 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
The trip home from Queenstown. We followed the same route home. No rain this time but the gusting winds over the first one hundred kilometres or so were there again. In conclusion we met many fellow enthusiasts and learnt of some interesting modifications. Two immediately spring to mind, the fitting of the Toyota R 21 gearbox to the E Type which they say is very smooth, bullet proof, freely available and an alternate to the Getrag box. Appears that there is also a modified torsion bar reaction plate available that allows for adjusting the height of the E Type without the need to remove and reposition the torsion bars on the splines. It s on a trip like this that you are reminded just how great these old cats are. Clearly they were designed for open road touring and what a great experience it is. All purred along and no serious problems were encountered. All in all a great time was had by all, ladies and men alike! It was suggested that Jamborees should become a regular event on perhaps on a biannual basis and each province should host an event. Something to look forward to! Finally very special thanks must go to the Northern Region folk who really went that extra mile to ensure we all had a great time. Bob Brown and David Laing must, deservedly, be singled out for all they had done thank you so much guys! Special thanks must go to Dave Crooks for loaning his second E Type, a series 1 1/2, 4.2 litre FHC, to Jack for this event. Originally Dave was going to drive up in his 1962 flat floor 3.8 roadster, one of the earliest E Types in South Africa. However, that car had already been loaded into a container and was on route to the UK. Dave will drive this car in a commemorative run from the UK to Genève. Joining Dave on this great trip will be his cousin Dave Lyons. It s really an honour for our local enthusiasts that Dave will represent the Durban guys at such a prestigious event. 9 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
The Durban representatives 1. Jack and Lyne Clough 2. Bruce and Ingrid Krebs 3. Alan and Barbara Crookes 4. Peter and Vanessa Micklewright 5. Barry and Liz Liggins 6. Peter Mahlknecht 9. David Crookes 8. Charles Loue 10. Jill and Theo Alberda That magnificent XK 140 leading the way home! 10 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
Some additional shots for the album View from the rear view mirror. Just have to get past that truck! 11 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
Yet another Fill up! 12 cylinders purring and no problem crossing those many road humps! 12 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
The Tiger Moth and Chipmunk in the hanger was a sight to behold! Regrouping at Elliott 13 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za
That frost again! To some the most beautiful Jaguar ever, the XK 150 14 Jaguar Drivers Club of Natal www.jdcn.co.za