JAGUARS – YOU CAN’T WIN THEM ALL!
November 26, 2013.- The Jaguar Enthusiasts Club in Spain got together again on Sunday 24th November, perfect weather for taking the Big Cat out on the road. Back to restaurant Los Almendros in Torrellano this time, the huge car park makes it easy to organise the Big Cats into an fabulous display. An impressive turnout this time with 23 Cars and 57 people for lunch. May I take this opportunity to thank all those that attended especially the new members and a special mention to Mark Davy who travelled all the way from Almeria, a round trip of 440 Km. While I am on the subject of “thanks”, a big thank you to Ian McMenemy for all his hard work in organising the event. And thank you to John Parkin for a fabulous job on the creation and management of our new dedicated web site – see www.jec-spain.es And I must not forget David Shea who looks after our “presence” on Facebook.
As I said “You can’t win them all”, on this occasion Restaurant Los Almendros let us down badly. I am not going in to details but needless to say JEC Spain will not be returning to this establishment in the future. Hence we are looking for a new home, if any restaurant owner out there wants to get in touch and offer their facilities we would be delighted to hear from them. The main criteria to qualify for consideration is adequate parking for up to 40 cars, being optimistic for the future. Or if any reader can suggest a restaurant that they know that they think may be suitable, please get in touch. In order to be as fair as possible to members, we would prefer the location to be around the Alicante area but we will consider anything.
The superb selection of Jaguars at this meeting, a collection that would make the pulse of any “petrol head” race. The line up also attracted a lot of admiration from other people visiting the restaurant. 3 fabulous E types, whereas at the other end of the scale we had a superb example of the new XK’R’ drop head and a new XKF. Completing the line up were XK8’s, XJ’s, XJS’s and a number of S Type’s. After the not so satisfactory meal, we moved most of the cars down to the back car park to show them off to their true potential.
Our next meeting is will be at the end of January, exact date to be confirmed, something special this time “ A Country Cruise”. We will be visiting Restaurant La Torretta near the town of Elda. This is a return visit for the club as many members expressed a wish to return to this fabulous little eating establishment. After that, who knows. For next year we are planning a Magical Mystery Tour and a weekend away in Almeria to visit the “Hollywood” sets. When we find a new base we can sort out our future plans in more detail.
The Jaguar Enthusiasts Club is the largest of the worlds Jaguar Clubs, apart from joining in the fun at the meetings, full members also benefit from a glossy 132 page A4 monthly magazine, Jaguar spares department and a technical advice service second to none. If you live in Spain and own a Jaguar you should be a member of The Jaguar Enthusiasts Club. The JEC in Spain is organised by Eric Arnold, Chairman and Ian McMenemy, Events Manager. Eric can be contacted by email at jaguarspain@outlook.com or by phone on 609931647 or alternatively check out the JEC spain web site www.jec-spain.es Our Events Manager, Ian McMenemy can be contacted at McMenemy@JEC-events.com
Text and photographs by: Eric Arnold