1954 Jaguar Mk VII from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Drank oil like a camel drinks water.

Lots of things on the car didn't work properly, like the steering, brakes, suspension and any part with 'Lucas' stamped on it.

I bought this car as part of a syndicate. I was 16 years old and had just got my driver's licence. Six of us, all still at school, put up $100 Aust each to buy this worn-out, black behemoth.

We had a roster. Every few weekends, each of the owners would get the car for a Saturday night. We felt like kings, but knew we had done a bad, bad thing in buying this retreaded dinosaur and kept it hidden away as best we could. I admit I lied to my parents who were hoping I would find a nice used Morris Minor to drive.

We filled the engine regularly with 26 pints of used sump oil, as the real thing was too expensive. The best way to get the car to stop was to hang on to the steering wheel and pull back on it to get maximum force on the brake pedal.

Our finest hour occurred one weekend afternoon, with four owners on board, all apples of our mothers' eyes, together with a few girls even younger than we were. Using a notorious stretch of road south of Adelaide, South Australia, and all craning over to watch the big speedo, we hit the magic 100mph as the sixteen year old driver tried to keep the car on the bitumen.

All young drivers believe themselves immortal.

It became known at school that a group of us had bought a very fast and dangerous car. While our peers considered us gods, our parents and our school considered us fools.

The car was sold, and our lives, especially at weekends, returned to drudgery.

Magnificent review.

What memories AND you all came out of it OK!!!

Reminds me of going WAY too fast on a overly powerful motorbike. On a damp road.

Don't ride motorbikes now, got a station-wagon.

Take care and hold the memories.

Andy.

Ah yes, the memories.

Driving up to the gates of the prime ministers residence at 24 Sussex and having the gates open to admit a quartet of teens in bathing suits. Watching the twin vortexes as she passed by in fog. Enjoying the incredible ventilation on a warm sunny day touring the Gatineau hills of Quebec. Memories remain.

Now she sits languishing in a garage, looking longingly at the road no longer traveled.

I have owned this car for more than 4 decades... and now can no longer give it the care it deserves.

If there are any "proper" owners out there interested in a mechanically sound, roadworthy Mk-VII with 64,000 miles...let me know.

Art Gale in Toronto Ontario Canada.

856 0618.

A friend back in Melbourne, Australia bought a used Mark ten (correct model?), about a 1965 vehicle. A four point two engine with big twin S. U carburetors. We drove to Sydney for a vacation, but on the way had a mishap. We had just left a country town late at night after buying fuel. The friend decided to see what the car could do. The speedometer needle just kept climbing. At 120 miles an hour the road dropped slightly down into a patch of fog. The friend eased off the accelerator and we started coasting to a lower speed. Luckily the road was straight so no curves to deal with. We came out of the fog at a 110 miles an hour. In front of us laying on the road was a dead kangaroo, most likely a victim of a big truck. We hit the 'roo and were airborne. All I saw was night sky before we crashed back to earth. The friend slowed the car down as it was pulling to one side after hitting the 'roo.We drove at a more sedate pace till morning and found a garage to look at the car. They said the whole front sub-frame was buckled from the impact and told us we were lucky to be alive as the domestic Holdens or Fords would not have survived the impact. So the one good thing about those larger older model Jags is how solidly built they were. The best thing that happened to Jaguar was Ford buying them and sinking a lot of money in to the company.Jag' still makes great vehicles...

What a fantastic review!

It would appear to closely mirror my youthful Jag/Daimler based sins, but on the other side of the world.

I only live today as a result of God's mercy and nothing to do with my skill or wisdom. In those days, I had bucket loads of neither!

Thanks for the kind comments. I thought I'd wait a few years to see if anyone read the thing.

I'm still in one piece, but I'm afraid not cured...

I'm 55 now, and I do enjoy my Healey 100/4, despite its Lucas components!

Occasionally, I've taken again to that long straight road down south.

I'm pleased to report that the thrill of hitting the ton is just the same, and I swear I can hear behind me, above the noise of the engine, tyres, wind and my own laughter, the excited voices of my mates and of those young girls, who may even be grandmothers now.

Like the quality of a fine single malt, some things never change.

Are those days of foolish wrong doings, I learnt to drive in Western Queensland on tracks that were called roads, my mother who taught me to drive in a 53 Humber Super Snipe was always going on about speed. But I knew better in those days, so one day decided one day to give the Humber a boot full, all was going well until I hit a patch of sand; the Humber did a 360, and missed a big gum tree by an inch. My knees knocked for about 3 days. I never admitted my mistake to my mother, but driving that same road some time later she saw the skid marks and commented that some fool could have killed themselves. It was then that I would give up the speed thrill and drive as I was taught.

Regards, Bill Kelly.