(cue music) It’s a dyin’ little town. (end music)

I don’t remember if that was Randy Newman or John Prine or somebody of that ilk from the 70s, but cg you have captured the profile of the end of a community.

I was looking for a jag thread so I could tell you I spotted a Roadster last night in a most incongruous place - parked in the pouring rain behind a student-district apartment complex in Santa Monica. I doubt the owner was wealthy and old, unless he was visiting his consort in the apartment he pays for. My wife whirled the car around so we could take a closer look. (She loves those cars, but then were are both of a certain age which remembers when there were more of them.) I’d give you the license plate number, but since you can’t look it up it probably doesn’t matter.

OK, it isn’t THAT bad… they do have a sleek line to them, and of course they contained a measure of that magic that was Jaguar in their heyday. But they are, as the brits say “at the end of the day” still a lumbering sedan. So yes, an all-XJ slalom would be a hoot, but really only for the novelty of extreme body roll and counting how many cones got obliterated.

To your thoughts of generations and Model A’s, look at the insane muscle car market right now… that tide could be lifting our boat, but somehow it isn’t… and that is because the generation between us, and the current JCNA leadership are the ones with that fever. Whereas you and I are indifferent, these guys are outright hostile to their elders. The coming decade should be if nothing, interesting and entertaining.

The JCNA needs to adapt to that reality.

They’ll have a tough time of it. I haven’t been a club member for a number of years, though I did send in cheques to the local MG club and the local Jaguar club just to see what they’re about these days. The answer seems to be: the same old stuff.

I left the local Jag club many years ago because I really wasn’t interested in pot roast dinners, which is a gentle exageration but seemed to be the only thing they ever did. The national magazine a few years ago was sad, lots of small type discussing the kind of arcane minutae we heard at the meeting. As you said, the E-Type lover’s email list is a hugely more valuable resource.

I had my doubts going in, and they weren’t alleviated by the meeting. A friend who belonged to the local club a few years ago noted that half of the meeting he went to was devoted to the sunshine committee’s report on everyone who was in the hospital. We all age, but that’s a sure sign your club is definitely in decline.

I came to old British cars because I’m weird, but you’re right, the next generation has to come from somewhere and the sons and daughters of current owners is a good place to start. I somewhat disagree with your assessment of the XJ6 and XJS, but you’re probably right and I’m probably delusional. They’re both nice cars to drive and pretty good fun in the right hands. An all-XJ6 slalom meet would be a hoot, actually. People might actually try to have a good time in a car that cost them $2,500. (Not every young person has to have a sports car, even in the MG club 20 years ago there were young people more interested in the few sedans MG put out.)

Jaguars will soon be like Model A Fords. The generation that loved Model A’s is gone, and while there are cars left and enthusiastic owners, the values have come way down and they’re just as likely to be owned as garage art as they are to be driven. When your club members average 70 years of age, it’s little wonder there aren’t many driving events.

Another thing the club loses sight of is that to get people interested, you need to get out and spread the word, as it were. A bunch of cars arriving at a private venue on trailers with anal retentive owners q-tipping tires, where as a spectator you feel like a bull in a china shop…frankly, it’s lame. I’ve been to exactly one Jaguar concours and will not go to another, I don’t think.

The other thing about clubs is that maybe 5% of the people get to be underwritten by 95% of the members. In theory events are open to everyone, but there is definitely always a core group of people who run things, often simply swapping offices at election time. Someone said to me a few years ago that even if I restored my car exactly to their standards, there was no way I was going to win if I showed up as a stranger to their event.

There’s a local club, or at least there was, called the TC Tourers. As I recall, their bylaws prohibited elected officers and non-driving events, and events were often thrown together at the spur of the moment. I have no idea if they’re still active, but it was a good gig. Hopefully this driving series you’ve started will be similar.