The Jaguar Owners Association of North Texas (JOANT) again held its Concours D’Elegance in the quaint setting of the Down Town Square in Carrollton Texas. This event had a purpose greater than giving Jaguar Owners the opportunity to put their cars on display. That purpose was to honor longtime club member and major contributor to the success of the club, David Nichols. David had been a member for longer than anyone can remember and held almost every position needed to keep the club running. Lately, he has been the Chief Judge for the concours, so holding this event in his honor was only fitting.
There was a lot of preparation needed for this event and the majority of the club members pitched in to do that preparation. Arrangements were made with the City of Carrollton to reserve all of the parking spots around the Down Town Square. Owners of nearby parking lots were contacted to allow overflow parking if needed. The American Legion / Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge near the square allowed the club members to use their facilities and cool off if needed. They also had doughnuts and coffee. The JOANT web site was set up to allow online registration or to print out hard copies of the needed forms. Regional Jaguar clubs were contacted and invited to attend. The event was added to the Jaguar Journal calendar as well as many other automotive interest websites.
All of that preparation made it possible for 39 Jaguar owners to display their pride and joys. There were 14 cars entered in the Championship and Special Division and 14 cars entered in the Driven Division. Another 11 owners just wanted the club members and public to see their cars on Display. As you would expect, the last minute cleaning and polishing of the cars went on most of the morning. Finally, at noon the “rags down” command was given and it was time to relax, have some lunch, and visit with the competition (I mean fellow Jag owners). The formal judging started at 1:00 using the judging score sheets approved at the last Annual General Meeting. The judging teams were made up of JOANT, Jaguar Club of Austin, and Central Oklahoma Jaguar Association members. The judges were challenged a little by the strong winds that kept blowing the sheets off the clipboards. The upside of the wind was that it offered some cooling for the 90+ sunny day.
The judging finished around 3:00 and the site cleanup started. The tents put up for shade were taken down, the barricades and cones used to reserve the parking spots were gathered up and returned to the city. Once the cleanup was done, everyone started getting ready for the awards banquet at the host hotel, Hilton Garden Inn. There were 52 people that came to the banquet and enjoyed the nicely prepared meals. The longtime chairman of the JOANT concourse, Alan Barclay was the master of ceremony for the awards presentation. He started the presentation with a few words about David Nichols and all he had done for the club. He thanked his wife, Judy Nichols for all of the support she gave David and the club. Then he moved on to making the award announcements. Most of the announcements came with a little history on the winners or a little teasing on some past items. The banquet ended but the evening was far from over for many of the club members.
Note – Thank you to Don Marpe, Concours Chair, for this event report.
