According to Wikipedia, Jaguars generally keep to themselves, but occasionally they move around in small groups, collectively known as prowls or shadows. Just such a prowl was spotted in Cootamundra last Friday, when 9 Jaguars from Victoria lined up rear-to-kerb alongside Albert Park in Hovell Street.
Parked in the street was around a million dollars worth of beautiful classic English-made Jaguar vehicles, dating back to the 1930s. Spokesman Richard Hubbert, from Corryong in the Snowy Mountains region of Victoria, said most of the cars were from Melbourne, with a couple from as far way as Leongatha and Broadford.
“We’re on our way to Cowra where we’re getting together for our first tri-state meeting since Covid,” Mr Hubbert said.
“It’s really a four-state meeting, because we’ll have a total of 60 cars coming from Jaguar car clubs in Victoria, South Australia, NSW and Queensland, and the ACT.” The Victorian contingent met up in Albury last Thursday, and stopped that night in Wagga before arriving in Cootamundra around 11am.
They paused at Albert Park for a 45-minute break before setting off for lunch in Young, planning to continue to Cowra Showgrounds to register for the weekend’s meeting.
They were met in Cootamundra by Mal Chaplin, vice-president of Cootamundra Antique Motor Club, himself a Jaguar owner.
Mr Hubbert said most of the visiting cars were Mark 4 and Mark 5 Jaguars built in the period immediately after the Second World War at the Jaguar factory at Coventry in central England.
“Just one of them is from before World War Two, a so-called SS Jaguar made in 1937,” he said. “Jaguar started off as the Swallow Sidecars Company and changed to SS Cars Limited in 1935, and all the cars it made before the war were called SS, followed by the model name of Jaguar.
“Of course by 1945 the name SS had Nazi associations, so the company changed its name again to Jaguar Cars Limited, and all their cars were then known just as Jaguars, without the SS!.”