There’s no missing this 1958 Jaguar MkVIII as it wafts down the Paihia waterfront. Those flowing lines just ooze elegance, and heads turn as it pulls over to collect me.
Jeff Cartridge and Gail Pearcy bought it 10 years ago, and it’s a survivor, having spent nine months locked inside the Christchurch red zone.
This is their third Jag, though both grew up with Minis. Jeff says his dad had a MkVIII when his parents met.
“Dad accused Mum of going out with him only for the car.”
Jeff says this model is relatively rare, as production was curtailed after a factory fire —about 6000 were built, compared to more than 30,000 for the VII — and it had one owner for 50 years, “He drove it for 20 years, had it repainted, then put it into storage.”
That was in Invercargill. An Auckland trader bought it from the deceased estate, and Jeff and Gail acquired it sight-unseen then drove it to the Bay of Islands to show Jeff’s Dad — “he loved it” — and then back home to Christchurch. “The only problem was a flat battery.”
It required minimal work, bar replacing the solid wooden pull-out drawer in the dash, which had been swapped for a radio, “Which we took out — fortunately the drawer was still there.”
The car is so original it still has most of its tools, in boxes that drop from the bottom of each front door.
The couple have had some engine work done, “There was a rattle, and the oil pump had failed, that was about five years ago. Alex Copeland, in Temuka, did it. He specialises in Jags, he had all the pieces he’d taken out, and told us how he’d made the replacements.”
All that lovely wood is original, though it’s obviously been revarnished, “The original isn’t normally this shiny, it was French-polished, and didn’t crackle.”
The couple aim to make any repairs to “as is” condition. “It’s not a restored car, it’s an old car.” When they got it, the leather was getting a little hard, and they say Connolly Hide Food is fabulous on old leather.
Photo / Jacqui Madelin
“It softened it up, especially the top of the front seat, which was getting quite brittle.” The leather now has a lovely, lived-in patina.
Smoking was clearly the in-thing when the car was built — there’s a cigarette lighter in each B-pillar and in the dash. “The kids thought this was cool, as they could charge their phones.”
There are lots of interior lights, and a sunroof. The instruments weren’t backlit, so you can switch blue light on from beneath the dash overhang to see what’s going on.
The indicator switch is on the steering-wheel hub, and the high beam is selected by a foot switch. Really, the only place the designers dropped the ball was the wipers — you have to put your hand through the steering wheel to switch them on.
Photo / Jacqui Madelin
There are two gloveboxes, two petrol tanks. “ It’s good old-school; the gauges stick so every so often, you tap them,” he says.
The car doesn’t have power steering. That became standard on the next model which also got disc brakes.
This powerful 3.5-litre six-cylinder motor was launched in the XK120 in 1948, and appeared in its replacement, the XK140. Perhaps that’s why the front passenger also gets a solid wooden grab-handle.
Gail chuckles as she recalls competing in a grass gymkhana in the car, “Another woman had just done a full restoration of her E-Type and didn’t want to risk it, so she came with me. She had to hold on for dear life and we had a blast!”
Photo / Jacqui Madelin
The car gets used at least once a month, usually to Breakfast with the Cars at Paihia, as well as some classic runs. From Christchurch it toured to Franz Josef, to Dunedin.
Following the engine rebuild, it was driven north when they moved in 2014, after the dust had cleared from the earthquakes.
“It had gone in for a wheel alignment the morning of the February 2011 earthquake, and it was stuck inside the cordon for close to nine months,” said Jeff. It had been parked near a block wall, “And we didn’t know what condition it was in.”
Photo / Jacqui Madelin
They had been evacuated, so some time later, “Gail went to the cordon and told them she thought her glasses were in the car, so the army escorted her in to get them.
"And she was escorted in again when it came time to collect it, and drove it down Barbados St while the road was still like a frozen wave.”
Both their cars had been locked inside the cordon — fortunately the Jag had suffered only minor damage. “Paint chips in the September quake when objects fell off a shelf, but no damage in the February quake.”
There are too many memories to sell this car, but they’re already planning to buy a classic Mini.
“We can put roof racks on it, and won’t have to lift the kayaks too high!”
