Travel Tales
I like Miranda’s word of the day in a recent edition of Jag Torque, coddiwompling – ‘travelling in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination’. Alison and I have felt that way on a few occasions as we’ve negotiated our way on unfamiliar roads and streets, but thanks to Mr Google, we’ve always managed to reach our intended destination………… eventually!
One of the most enjoyable things we have found about travelling in unfamiliar territory, is stumbling upon little gems – and if that involves Jaguars, well that’s a bonus! We were in Adelaide in the early stages of our 12-month sojourn on the mainland, when we saw an advertisement on the television one night promoting the ‘McLaren Vale Vintage and Classic’, an annual event featuring a cavalcade of vehicles up the main street of the small township of McLaren Vale, which is in the middle of the well-known wine growing region known as the Barossa Valley.
We thought we’d better get there early as a bit of research showed us that this is a very popular event and the one access road into the town and the nearby streets get choked very quickly. It was a lovely, warm, sunny morning as we set up our chairs about an hour before the parade was to begin and we enjoyed watching the crowd gradually take up prime positions in the main street.
The cavalcade was a wonderful spectacle with about 450 classic and vintage cars taking part. Naturally our attention was directed at the Jaguars, but there were plenty of other magnificent vehicles of all makes and models.
When it was all over, we walked very contentedly back to where we’d parked our car about a kilometre away. We passed a lovely little winery along the way and noticed that all the Rolls Royce vehicles in the parade had congregated there and their owners were enjoying lunch – and a few good, expensive wines no doubt! We got talking to a nice chap who advised us that the various car clubs had all been allocated a winery to meet at after the parade. We asked where the Jaguar Car Club were meeting and were advised that they were at Hastwell and Lightfoot Winery, just a few kilometres out of town. Needless to say, we were soon heading that way.
We were mesmerised in having the opportunity to have a close look at these magnificently presented vehicles that we’d caught a brief glimpse of in the parade. We were made to feel very welcome by members of the Jaguar Car Club of South Australia, some of whom had just been to Tasmania for the National Rally – and who by the way, were very complimentary of their experience in our lovely State!
I’ve included a few photos of some of the absolute gems on display – Jaguars I’d not seen in real life before. These are extremely rare and very valuable vehicles and I hope I’ve labelled them correctly. However, I’ll be happy for the purists in our Club to correct me if I’m wrong!
Next month I will write about another amazing find we stumbled upon just a few days later – the largest privately-owned collection of Jaguars in the Southern Hemisphere……..it literally took our breath away!
Meanwhile it’s back on the road for Alison and I. We’re just about to head off over the Nullarbor, so enjoying a restful few days at beautiful Tumby Bay before the long drive West.
Rodney Anderson
(Click on photos to enlarge)
1948 Mark IV 3.5 Litre Jaguar Coupe
1950 Mark V 3.5 Litre Jaguar
1936 SS Airline Jaguar 2.5 Litre
A view of the street parade
