2003 Annual Concours : Got Cat?
by Cyndi Voller

After a very intensive Show Season, the South Florida Jaguar Club’s Concours d’Elegance on November 8, 2003 ended our season down south! And what a show it was, each year the Show improves by "Leapers" and bounds and the entire Concours Committee deserves a much earned pat on the back. Each year, there are more and more innovative ideas introduced in order to better the enjoyment of the Show for everyone involved. Let’s begin the story, so to quote a very famous South Floridian – And Away We Go!!!!!!

The Friday night dinner was at the host hotel, The Biba, and much thanks goes to Bob Scibelli for picking up the tab! But an even bigger thanks to Bob for doing an absolutely superb job as the Concours Chairman this year. There are so many terrific people to thank, Carmella Scibelli who never stops working; Rick and Diane Hartwell – without them how could we ever get our scores; all of the terrific people who worked registration; Brad Cline who had the difficult task of putting together the judging teams, the judges and Russell Glace who had quite a surprise for all of us but that is disclosed later in the story! I know I am forgetting to mention many other people who spent hours and hours of their personal time making sure that our Concours went smoothly, but you all know who you are and I want to personally thank each and every one of you for a job well done!

Saturday morning began dark and early – 6:00 AM to be exact – because it was going to take that long to pack the Mimosa mixings in Lady Jane! We departed Coconut Greek (not a typo at all – it’s the new City that the Concours Committee moved Club Voller to! I sort of think it sounds Exotic and very International – oops - better be careful how loud I say International as that seems to get Janey in a certain type of mood!) at 7:00 AM in order to ensure that we get to the Show on time as we knew we had to drive by the Lake Worth Turnpike Plaza and that there would be International Citgo Tow Trucks lurking in the dark garage bays, winking at Janey as she blew by and that has had a tendency to stop her dead in her tracks lately! We successfully maneuver past the Plaza and on to the Show. We arrive about 8:00 AM to beautifully sunny skies with a lovely breeze off of the Intracoastal and begin the set up and cleaning process.

Cars begin to roll in and get into their respective division parking spaces and by 9:30 AM the field was filling up nicely. My main concern was getting the Mimosa’s chilled down and ready to pour because that was my first duty of the morning and never let it be said that a Voller fell down on their job of pouring Mimosa’s!

Ginger Corda, Patsy Canning and I were the designated Mechanical Team and we had actually come up with a name for the team for this Show – the Mech Mavens, and when we really got going, we were the Ravin’ Mech Mavens. Ginger even brought orange mesh jackets for us to wear so no one would have any trouble picking us out – like they really would with the three of us! Various comments abounded like "are you escapees from the work relief program", "going out to direct traffic?", "been on any good construction sites lately?" – personally, I think every one was just jealous and wanted one of our designer "haute fashion" jackets! So in between Mech-mosa’s, we were given instructions and decided that we didn’t need any stinkin’ Mech-aphone since we had Ginger and if any questions did come up, it would simply be a matter of Mech-ademics as to how to answer the questions. The judging teams were instructed to go into the Library to receive their assignments from Brad Cline and as we gathered around a table, Roger Seitz leaned over and told us we’d better be quiet or some stern faced librarian was going to come over and scold all of us – fast forward 10 minutes – here she comes with the definite purpose of quieting our rowdy group down and quite possibly tossing us out; she wanted to know who we were and what we were doing. Brad gallantly jumped in to defend us from Stern Woman and explained that we would only be there another few minutes and that we were the respectable group with all of the cars parked out on their front lawn. She rocked back on her heels, gave us her very best, VERY stern librarian look and said "very well then, but just hurry it up!" It was all I could do to stifle the giggles, just like in grade school, and there was Roger leaning back with arms crossed, nodding his head and saying "See, I told you so."

Back to the Show field – The Mech Mavens begin their judging and decide to try to get some of the Judges’ cars out of the way prior to the Teams getting really involved in other cars. Since Patsy is on our team, we decided to start with the Canning’s 2002 X Type. Everything is going smoothly until we get to the fog lamps, Patsy can’t get them on so Ginger and I try to give her some ideas on where the switch might be. About that time Patsy suggested that Chris read the instructional user’s manual and Ginger and I literally fall down on the ground laughing about a guy reading the user’s manual. So we start yelling for Chris "Chris, Fog Lights", "Chris, Fog Lights" and Chris starts running back to the registration desk yelling "Flash Light" "Flash Light", we get him pointed in the right direction and into the car to get the fog lamps on and after a minute or two of twisting and turning, the fog lamps are on!! Chris’ response was that "I only use them during Concours Inspections!" and much to his chagrin the bloody Fog Lamp Chapter was apparently written by Basil Fawlty in Elizabethan English!

The judging continued and the weather held out beautifully. At one point during the show we all got to witness a truly spectacular site that could only happen in South Florida, two beautifully appointed Horse Drawn Carriages trotting down Flagler Street with the Breakers and the Intracoastal in the background. As I said – Only in South Florida!! There was also some type of academic event going on in the other park so every now and then the rumbling, rolling sounds of the Drum Corps would blow our way and the Mech Ravens would break out in dance, just like in the old days with the Drill Team and Flag Squad. It was nice to see that we still had the "rhythm" going - (sort of, well at least in our minds we did).

The highlight of my day, however, was being with Christin and Travis and the animals from the C.A.R.E. Foundation. They brought a de-scented skunk that was absolutely adorable, brown with tawny colored markings. I couldn’t get over how soft his fur was and how loveable and cuddly he was; of course I’ve never gotten close enough to a skunk to hug and pet one before! Then the best of the best – Jack and I got up the nerve to have the Florida Panther, Kacha (which is Seminole for Panther), get in Lady Jane for a once in a lifetime photo opportunity! It was absolutely priceless. He first crawled into the front and sat in the passenger seat but quickly spotted the lap blanket and stuffed Jaguar in the back seat. He then proceeded to wriggle through the front seats, only getting stuck for a few seconds, climbed onto the lap blanket and quickly claimed the stuffed Jaguar as his new chew toy. When he put the toy down for a minute, Jack tried to slowly move the toy away, one quick look from Kacha made Jack quickly "step away from the car"! I was just so tickled to have Kacha laying down in Lady Jane; I know that Mom and Dad were looking down from Heaven laughing away!! It was truly an awesome feeling. Christin and Travis have promised to be back again next year with Kacha the Panther, a Serval which is a smaller cat that can jump 10 feet off the ground and – DRUM ROLL PLEASE – a real Jaguar!! Now that will be the ultimate photo opp!! You truly can’t beat this experience, it’s a $50 donation that goes to a wonderful organization, it’s a tax write off and how many people in the WORLD get to have a real Jaguar, Panther or Serval sitting in their car. When Kacha left, all he left behind was some shedded fur, no scratches or anything, well – there was some kitty lick on my stuffed Jaguar but now he smells like the real thing!! Afterwards, Chris was nice enough to give me a stuffed Jaguar which I gave to Christin to give to Kacha and you could just see the thanks in his big yellow eyes when she gave it to him.

We were also graced with a different type of kitty – a Miss Kitty to be exact. Heather Glace charmed everyone by being the Purrfect Catwoman and looked absolutely feline fantastic posing as only Catwoman can do on member’s cars. She, also, left no marks on the cars -- but a few owners were left drooling!

On to the awards! Pascal Gademer had a wonderful idea that he made happen and the awards were given in "Drive Through" fashion. All the 1^st place cars lined up in sequential order by Division, their name and car type was called out and you proceeded to drive up to the tent, accept your award and have your picture taken. It was really quite fun and very impressive to watch. The 2^nd and 3^rd place winners were called out and walked up to receive their award. The awards were beautifully curved etched glass that look very elegant on a desk or bookshelf, one of the prettiest awards I have seen (or received!). I think it was a wonderful way to accept your award and a big round of applause for Pascal for implementing this, just one more example of how the Show improves each year!

The Best in Show Saloon was Kaye Kaeslin’s breathtaking Mark V and Best in Show Roadster was Jaime de Valle’s unbelievable aluminum E Type, which I’m sure most of us have never seen one of ! They were both very deserving of the Best of Show awards. Congrats to Kaye and Jaime!!

And of course, I can’t forget to report that Ginger Corda managed to get herself a ride in Ray David’s Red 1959 D replica, he actually wanted her to drive but she couldn’t reach the pedals! However, he did pass the steering wheel to her before receiving his award! That Ginger, she did it again!!!

After the Awards, it was a mad dash to Bradley’s Saloon directly across from the Show site for cocktails, appetizers and a yummy dinner. Well, I can’t exactly vouch for the yummy part since we had relatives coming in from out of town and had to leave at 5:00 but I know it was yummy last year and I am sure was just as good this year! However, I did get to witness Mike Baker from the Jaguar Club of Florida doing some incredible knot tying with two cherry stems – with his tongue! IMPRESSIVE!!!!! If any other club members want to embellish about the dinner, I would love to hear about it!

Jack and I gathered up our stuff, loaded up Lady Jane and began the drive home south. Right after the Lake Worth Toll Plaza the skies opened up and we were in torrential rain the rest of the way home, our neighbors in Coconut Greek said it had poured all day and we didn’t experience a drop in West Palm Beach! Could Sir William Lyon or Lucas have been watching out for us on that beautiful, balmy sunny Saturday? I think so.

All in all, it was a wonderful end to a wonderful Season. There were 48 magnificent representations of the cars that we all love so much. And I was thinking to myself as I wandered the field trying to keep drool off of the cars that if I could have the amount of the value of all of those British Steel beauties that were sitting on that field that wonderfully sunny day in my Swiss Bank Account … I certainly wouldn’t be sitting at my desk in the office on Monday morning – I would be playing with more LBC’s (Little British Cars - for those that don’t know those initials)! Maybe even let Jack have that E-Type he wants!

I wholeheartedly want to thank the Concours Committee for their hard work and dedication as I know how difficult it can be to pull these off since I have been involved in different ones in the past! I t takes long hours and a lot of dedication and volunteers to do a show of this magnitude. So I am sure that the Committee would love to start having volunteers lined up for future events. Let’s make our events even bigger and better and make the South Florida Jaguar Club the envy of all Clubs involved with the JCNA!! I know that some very good questions and ideas as to judging have come out of this show if the emails I’m receiving are any indication and this is how we improve on what we do.

I think this will be my last article of the year; I began as a novice in writing 5 months ago and have since cranked out 6 stories!! It’s time to pass the torch! So my dear friends - until the next escapade with Lady Jane, I will sign off, wish everyone a Healthy and Happy Holiday Season, and as always – HAPPY MOTORING!!!!!!

Purrs – Cyndi and Jack Voller, Lady Jane and Pokey too!!