Jaguar convertible a real find

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This article was published 30/08/2024 (582 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A luxury car deserves the best hand-washing treatment there is, said Steve Van Vlaenderen, as he applied the suds, warm water, soft sponges and drying cloths to his new purchase, a black 1988 Jaguar XJS convertible with a V-12 engine.

“Middle-aged crazy,” Van Vlaenderen said with a laugh as he polished the Jaguar emblem on the hood.

Immediately after signing the purchase papers and a handshake sealing the deal at a home in Brandon’s west end, Van Vlaenderen and his partner, Darlene Hildebrand, started polishing their new British-built Jaguar.

Hildebrand said her father had one when she was growing up, and when Van Vlaenderen was in his 20s and 30s, he said he had two, but this one is a bit of a rarity.

The mileage is low, the odometer reads 90,395 kilometres, he said — “Not bad for a 36-year-old car.”

“And this particular car isn’t common — it’s a rare car because of the convertible roof. Most convertibles roll back, but this one you have to take the panels off. And of the number that were built, only 50 came to North America,” said Van Vlaenderen.

“And who knows how many are still in existence?” Hildebrand added.

The Jaguar XJS was manufactured by Britain’s Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in a two-passenger closed roof style, a four-seater car with a fixed roof, and the convertible.

Van Vlaenderen and Hildebrand live in Winnipeg, but bought the car from Brandon’s Linda Warden. Linda’s husband Bob purchased it from a Calgary seller, and it was shipped to the Wheat City in November 2022. But in April 2023, about five months after Bob got the car, Linda said he died while on the job in northern Alberta.

“He had just bought the car, we hadn’t even gone for a ride together, and he never did have it on the highway,” said Linda. “So I decided to sell it. My kids are not interested in having it, and I want the Jaguar to go to someone who wants it and knows what they’re doing with it. And these two are such lovely people.”

Van Vlaenderen and Hildebrand have been in Brandon numerous times.

One of their many trips was in early 2023, when Van Vlaenderen was promoting a book he had created called “Vanishing Wheels.”

It has 125 pages of antique, one-of-a-kind vehicles that he photographed and then researched as a tribute to old vehicles and how they’re slowly disappearing from the landscape.

Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Parkinson’s Canada. Van Vlaenderen was diagnosed with the disease in 2011.

When Dave Burba, president of the Road Rebels Car Club in Brandon, heard about Van Vlaenderen and Hildebrand’s book tour, he organized an event to help boost sales.

The trio had met a few years earlier while Van Vlaenderen was on the hunt for older cars.

“We hit it off from there,” said Burba. “He loved what we did, and they became members of our club. They didn’t have a collector or classic car then — but were as active as they could be.”

Hildebrand said she and Van Vlaenderen belong to a few car clubs on the Prairies, but none of them compare to the Road Rebels.

“It is the best car club,” she said, while Van Vlaenderen added, “I think they’re all fantastic. Everyone is so supportive. And where else can you find the president of a car club who comes and puts your new plates on for you?” he said as Hildebrand and Burba joined in the laughter.

For Hildebrand, it’s the support from the local car club members who have helped raised funds for Parkinson’s Canada — for Van Vlaenderen as well as another member, Norm Poersch, who was diagnosed when he was “barely 50.”

Poersch and his wife Val have a 1965 Pontiac Parisienne Custom Sport two-door convertible.

It’s not often, Hildebrand said, “that you see a car club take on an additional charity.” The Road Rebels donate regularly to the Elspeth Reid Family Resource Centre.

“The Road Rebels took on Parkinson’s disease as a result of Steve and his book as well as their longtime members Norm and Val Poersch. And what came about was the Brandon Parkinson’s social group. So this really is a special group of people, and a special car club and a special guy who is their president,” said Hildebrand.

As soon as the Jaguar was dried off and shining in the sun, the two climbed in — heading to their first car show scheduled for the Douglas Community Hall last night.

“We’ve come full-circle,” said Hildebrand. They are Road Rebels members who now have a car deemed “classic and collectible.”

And as she looked over at Van Vlaenderen in the driver’s seat, she said, “Steve is at his best when he’s driving. Although it’s a sporty-looking car, and even with his Parkinson’s he can get in and out. People are often so shocked because some people lose their licence, but Steve is actually at his best when he’s behind the wheel.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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