You speak as though the two cannot occur simultaneously !



It's a common misconception that you have to choose just one or the other. Not true at all, I assure you. I did the concours things for a number of years, as both contestant and judge, and had lots of fun as did the majority of others.



There are always a few who take it all a bit too seriously, unfortunately.

In my observation those who compete only against themselves generally enjoy it the most

Cheers
DD

This is the Image to which LuvmyXJS was referring, those of a nervous disposition had better look away now.

The Previous Owner must have thought it a good idea at the time but really 'What was he thinking' it just looks wrong on so many different levels and once you've drilled those holes there is No Going Back.

I very nearly didn't buy this Car because of 'The Leaper' it just took away from the beautiful lines of the Bonnet/Hood but apart from that it was such a nice Car always kept in a heated Garage, that resistance was useless, I just had to have it.

'The Leaper' now makes a nice Paper Weight, it's never going near my Car again.

As a matter of Interest, 'The Leaper' is so contentious that we once had a Survey as to whether to fit one or not, where the overwhelming majority Voted NO.

If you really must have one, get one that will swap with the 'Growler'

'The Leaper' looks Great on some Jags but not on the XJS.

If you want to 'Bling it up' Swap the Growler for a Gold one, that is fitted to the Celebration Model.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...c4bd7f886d.jpg

Wait, are you trying to tell me that this might be a mistake?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...3231da60ad.jpg

Sometimes words alone are not enough.

:icon_doh:

Whew, that is a pair of odd "leapers".


One can enjoy things or allow them to distress them. Which way is the better to live by???


1. Way back when, a fellow that enjoyed Concours events, invited me to show my "lump". Shake up the Judges or guage acceptance. Fun to be had, wither way...


2. In years past, a local group had one every year at a nearby high school's athletic field. I always enjoyed attending and made many pictures. Many makes and models, fro very old to near modern.


3. A recent car show depicted a crew of "Hot Rod" guys that decided to try the prestigious Pebble Beach event. Two put up the bucks to buy and prepare a 28 Packard Roadster. A real beauty. Five in it's class. It failed to advance??? Busted for two faults. One cowl light dd not light up. The clock did not work. Fun, oh by the ton. Drove it in the famous 17 mile tour. Boss "mimicked" trouble shifting the big Packard's non synchro 3 on the floor.


But, they did find a rare car for the next time.


Carl

[QUOTE=Doug;1537089]You speak as though the two cannot occur simultaneously !

Doug, I am well aware that each persons experience at a car show is their own. I will say that in my experience some Jaguar shows can be pretty stuffy and unfriendly. This has been my experience and mine alone but that is why I do not want to get caught up in the judging and trophy thing-again just a personal decision.

I was at a big show years ago and not one XJS owner even bothered to talk to me about their cars or say hi. That was extremely disappointing to me because I drove a good distance to check out the XJS' and found the MG and triumph owners to be much friendlier. Heck I even found many of the E-type owners to be much friendlier.

Again this is my personal experience but when we start worrying more about whether a dealer optioned leaping cat was or was not available from the factory IMO this begins to distract from more important things like how we treat those that have it on their car.

So many of the XJS' have been bought second hand and the leaping cat comes with the car so an excited new XJS owner brings their car to a show and is met with " we had to deduct a bunch of points off your car because it has a leaping cat on the hood ". To me that just does not build up people and make them want to be a part of showing their car.

There are many ways to enjoys the car hobby. Competing in concours events isn't for everyone.

But the entire point of concours shows *IS* to worry about what is and isn't correct for the car in question. In my judging experience I've run across a few contestants who really didn't understand what it was all about and were hurt when these things were pointed out. They'd probably be happier in general car shows and/or divisions with 'peoples choice' judging or similar.

For a true concours enthusiast every fault found is an opportunity to do better. The satisfaction comes from watching your scores steadily increase over time....recognition and acknowledgement of your effort. It's no different, really, than watching your golf scores improve after redoubling you practicing.

I recently tossed out my collection of concours trophies accumulated over the years. Except one. Once I won the Chief Judge's award for "Most Improved Car". That's the one that meant most to me.



Again, they shouldn't be competing in a concours event if they don't understand what it is all about. Somebody probably encouraged them to compete without explaining what it entails.

Every JCNA Jag club I'm familiar with has (and strongly promotes) a 'display only' division where the owner can take his pride and joy onto the field and enjoy sharing his car with onlookers and admirers. No points, no deductions, no judging, no hurt feelings.

Cheers
DD

At the club I am a member of the judges are always instructed that judging isn't there to find fault. It's to give the owner an appraisal by a knowledgeable person of how they could improve their car if they wish and encourage them to improve their car. Every contestant I have met, both as participant and as a judge, has always appreciated the sharing of knowledge.

Every participant who has had their car judged I have interacted with has been there because they wanted to and knew what standard their car was judged against. In contrast, I have talked to many people who had entered in the non judged portion ( which is usually about 3/4 of the cars entered) and they had no clue things like leapers on XJS's were non standard. Some then removed them and became active in concours because they wanted to have a "perfect" car. They hadn't realized that their car had been modified by a previous owner, and treated a judging as a lesson in how to make their car the best it could be.

Orangeblossom, That picture of the Leaping Cat on the hood of that XJS is just so wrong I agree. It was my intention to find one to fit into the existing holes where the Growler would fit. That way if I didn't like it I could put back the Growler. It appears that I would have to drill out one of the holes to make one fit. NOT going to happen. It's just fine the way it is. (Even though my car will never be perfect, it is pretty nice though, I'm going to "drive the wheels off it" and enjoy it a lot.)

When I read 'drill out one of the holes', I had my head in my hands!

Do not even go there or in time you could regret it.:icon_errrr:

Just enjoy your Car the way it is.

I agree: enjoy your car the way that it is.

Confession - my XJS has a leaper (please don't blame me, it's a previous owner's work!). Do I like it? To be honest, I'm ambivalent. I guess I don't hate it, and I certainly don't love it, and therefore can't see the point of replacing it with a growler. Does it affect my enjoyment of ownership? Not one bit. Would it be sneered at by some of the more fussy (note, I'm avoiding the term "concours") XJS fans? Quite possibly. But then they'd probably prefer me to reinstate the air injection (not going to happen), replace the 5-speed manual conversion with an antiquated (even in '85), performance sapping 3-speed auto, revert the dash lights to incandescent (non-LED) bulbs, and try to source an overpriced, smartphone non-compatible head unit. While I'm at it, I probably should avoid any modern (any spec newer than 30 years) fluids, lubricants and coolant!

There are far too many things that a lot of us do to these cars for anyone to claim that every of them must remain as original as possible (smaller A/C compressors, relocated alternators anyone??). I have a huge, huge amount of respect for those of us that prepare concours cars. They are such lovely things to see, and a true record of what the car was when new, and may there always be those cars to admire. But if all of us were in that camp I'd wager that 90% of posts here, and the bulk of Kirby Palm's book would be utterly redundant. If you're driving your XJS regularly (whether you have a leaper or not) it has probably deviated from OEM spec at some point.

Quite why the leaper gets all this (negative) attention just has me shaking my head...

The leaper tends to leap out as being more obviously unoriginal. Quite aside from any aesthetic considerations, it's simply a lot more visible (and less useful) than something like modern engine oil - even in a British car, which means that some of that oil is on the ground underneath.

I don't disagree. However the leaper only appears unoriginal to those familiar with these cars. As others have posted here, the general public (even those that like cars, but just aren't infatuated with Jaguars) would never know the difference. In the same way, they'd never hear an XJS with a small-block rumble and be any the wiser.

I guess I see the leaper debate as being logically inconsistent. If your XJS has tinted windows, you are "obviously unoriginal". Sourced some X300 rims (not even sure if these fit!) - similarly "obviously unoriginal". Where do we start and end with this argument? Peek inside the cabin to see later model seats - unoriginal. Different headunit - unoriginal. Replaced that unattractive (in my eyes) original steering wheel - unoriginal. Look under the bonnet to see electric fans - unoriginal. SBC to replace a V12 - very obviously unoriginal (to some).

Live and let live ladies and gents. I trust the OP's original question is well and truly answered, but more than that I'd hope we (as clear XJS appreciators) could be more tolerant and accepting (and less judgemental) of the cars of others.

Now, since that's off my chest, shall we discuss how the 6-cylinder XJS isn't a real XJS? Tongue firmly in cheek there by the way... besides, the lumped XJS owners have a far harder time of it (in this forum at least, probably not in their garages!) than the 6-cylinder owners 😀

I would argue that of all these the leaper is still the most important, simply as that's the very symbol of the marque (and it also just looks wrong - wrong leap angle, even without knowing it's not original, the angle is all wrong to my eyes).
With the exception of an SBC, whatever that stands for (Sin-Binned Car, I guess). Then you're just driving a Jaguar skin - its heart has been ripped out.

Only six cylinders? Why? Whatever happened to the rest of your engine?

If you are competing in concours, it's easy. You get a copy of the rules and see what's allowed and what isn't.

In driven class for instance, the bonnet is never opened, so you could have electric fans. You could have a different engine for that matter, all the rules state is that it has to be a Jaguar engine. Modern radios/sound systems are also allowed, as the purpose is that the cars are to be driven and used on a daily basis.

Preservation class is obviously different, the car has to be original.

mine came with a leaper...

why I like my leaper?
keeps the zombies off my windscreen


works good too... have yet to have a zombie on my windscreen... BC must have a Zombie problem too...

That's odd. I don't have a leaper, and haven't had any zombies on my windscreen either. Though in a zombie outbreak you could always file the leaper head to a sharp point and spike a few....

Thanks Doug and everyone else who took the time to help me understand how the judging is set up at the shows. We do not have a Jaguar club only here in the Boise, Idaho area so my limited experience with Jaguar shows and judging has been out of town on trips.

I actually was not aware that they had a driven class and a concours class of judging so I thought everyone was judged under the concours rules which did not make sense to me.

I do appreciate the all original concours cars as this is a way of seeing as close as possible how the different models roled off the assembly line in their time.

Seems like at least around Boise, Idaho it is so rare to ever see a XJS out being driven or parked for that matter that I really get excited when I do see one out.

If I understood correctly, SBC here stands for Small Block Chevy. And believe me, I considered it before I got the V12 running again.

I, for one, love my leaper. Sure, it's not original. I may even go back to the growler some day. But I've also got bi-xenon projectors with powder coated silver headlights, so I'm not really going for original. It's my car, I like how it looks, and I enjoy driving it. :) That's all that matters. It's your car, door what you want with it!