The Life-Long Love for All Things Jaguar
The Tale of Ol' Yeller
Narrative by Don Leedy
First Look. Don grew up in San Bernardino, CA. In the mid-1950's, Don's dad worked as a salesman at the local Lincoln-Mercury dealership. At the time, we lived on a quiet street one block away from a junior college. The college campus was hilly and provided the kids that lived in the neighborhood a perfect playground. Coming home from that playground after school one afternoon, I turned onto our street and there it was – one of the most stunning cars I had ever seen in my life, a top-down Jaguar XK 120!! I can still picture in my mind the Jaguar sitting in the driveway – a gunmetal gray in color. Little did I know, but that moment began my life-long love for Jaguar. It turns out the Lincoln-Mercury dealer had taken the XK-120 in on trade for a new Mercury and my Dad had driven it home for the evening.
The Seed is Planted for Ol' Yeller. In 1958 I got my driver's license. In the early 1950's the custom car craze was beginning in California. A favorite place to “show off” your car was to take it to one of the beach cities in Southern California, only 50 short miles away from San Bernardino. Driving with a friend just off of the Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach is when I saw it – My first sighting of a Jaguar XKE!! We were probably driving my 1960 Chevy Impala 4-speed, with a 348 cubic inch, 350 HP engine, and the time period was somewhere between 1961 and 1964. “Wow!! What is that?” we asked. The car was a 2-door coupe, and you're not going to believe this, ...yellow in color!! We followed it for several miles and at a stop light, stopped behind it, we saw the small symbols on the rear door – E-Type, Jaguar!! Little did I know, but the seed was planted!! And, just like the memory of my first sighting of the XK 120, the memory of the first sighting of the E-Type is still etched firmly in my mind.
If You Want That Jaguar, You Need to Work For It!! After the 1960 Impala, I owned two 1962 Chevy Impala 409's. It was a good thing that gas cost only around 15 cents a gallon at that time, for when you cut both of the 409's four-barrels in, you could visually see the gas gauge taking a dive!! Well, it was time to quit racing around (literally) on the streets of California and get to work. Drag racing was just becoming big in California, and a lot of it was being done on the streets. I'm lucky I didn't get myself killed!! The last 409 was sold and I ended up, of all things, with a 1962 Chevy Corvair Monza Spyder. Yes, “Unsafe at any Speed!!” It was time to get to work!!
In 1964 the Corvair and I packed up and headed for Kansas to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Kansas and California – What a contrast!! Where were the mountains? I couldn't understand in the winter why the sun was shining and it was only 20 degrees. In addition, the Mamas and the Papas had just come out with “California Dreamin’” which seemed to have made the transition from California to Kansas a little bit more difficult.
A New Car to Celebrate Graduation. In the Spring of 1968 my degree at the University of Kansas was completed and I had accepted a job with Procter & Gamble to work at their Miami Valley Laboratories. Prior to coming to Cincinnati, it was time to take a break back in California and spend some time with family before starting a new career. Maybe it is time to buy a new car to help celebrate completing eight years of college and beginning a new career with considerably more income than that to which I was accustomed. There was a lot to choose from in 1968. The Firebird had just been introduced in 1967 by Pontiac, and it was a pretty hot car. What about a Corvette? I had always somewhat wanted one. But then, that yellow Jaguar XKE coupe I had seen in Newport Beach a half-dozen years earlier jumped back into my mind.
Ol' Yeller is Purchased. By this time, my Dad was pretty much tied into the car business in San Bernardino. He had left the Lincoln-Mercury dealer and started his own business selling used cars – “Leedy Motors.” As “Leedy Motors” specialized in used cars for the “second” car in the family, he was regularly called by most of the new car dealers in town to make bids on older cars being traded in on new cars. The dealer in town that sold Jaguar was Inland Imports. They not only sold Jaguar but other foreign sports cars as well. My Dad knew the owner well and we went over to take a look. As Inland Imports handled many foreign car brands, their inventory in each was relatively small. As it turns out they had only one Jaguar: “A 1968 XKE Coupe, …..and it was yellow!!” And as Don soon found out, the color was known as “Primrose Yellow!!” Don especially liked the chrome wire wheels with the knock-off spinners. The Newport Beach memories immediately came back and Don's E-Type, now known as “ol' Yeller” was purchased for $5,800. To put that price into perspective for 1968, that was about 1/2 of Don's annual starting salary at Procter & Gamble. Yes, Ol' Yeller came with a payment book!!
Ol' Yeller Takes Don to Cincinnati. With one exception, Ol' Yeller's cross country trip from California to Cincinnati went like clockwork. What a car to drive on the open highway. Just one problem. Every time I looked at the speedometer it was reading 85 or 90. It was so smooth on the highway, it just didn't seem like it was going that fast. Heading east out of Denver towards making a stop in Lawrence to visit with my former graduate student friends and faculty, the scenery is flat and totally boring. As I recall, I do not believe I-70 had been completed at that time and I was traveling east on US 40 as I entered into Kansas. All of a sudden the rear view mirror filled up with a whole bunch of flashing red lights. “Officer, I don't think I was speeding,” I said. His reply “Since when is 93 not considered speeding??” It was hard to keep the speed down in Ol' Yeller on the open road!!
In the late 1960's the availability of an apartment in Cincinnati with a garage was basically non-existent. Ol' Yeller spent the first three years of her life sitting outside at night at the apartment I rented in Sharonville, right off of I-275. Fortunately, not long after I moved in, an Indian fellow moved in with a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, so Ol' Yeller had pretty good company.
Let Her Fly. At that time construction was in progress on I-275 all around the city and segments were opened up as they were completed. One summer morning I walked out to Ol' Yeller to drive to work. Sitting on her top was a pretty large butterfly. I didn't think much of it, I got in and we headed west on I-275. As I crossed Winton Rd. I remembered they had just opened the new segment of I-275 between Hamilton and Colerain Avenues. Brand new, absolutely smooth pavement – What a time to let Ol' Yeller fly! As much as I could check for state troopers, I let her go. 125 mph and steady as an arrow. She had more, but I didn't!! (Recall the speedometer on an E-Type goes to 160 mph.) That's the fastest she has ever been driven.
But, this short story is not over. Remember the butterfly? When I got out of Ol' Yeller at MVL, there, sitting on her top, was that butterfly – 125 mph and it was still there!! At lunch I told the story to my fellow chemists and suggested we start a project to determine what was in the foot pads of butterflies. If we could identify that substance we would probably be able to develop a pretty strong, novel adhesive!! (That suggestion was not too far-fetched. At the time we had a colony of cockroaches at MVL for the purpose of developing an attractant to be used in cockroach traps!!)
Ol' Yeller's Stablemates. In the past I sometimes thought Ol' Yeller should have been a roadster. Especially, when you see a superb example such as Steve Locker's. That's what drew me to the XK8 convertible. (Not to hurt ol' Yeller's feelings, I have come around on that and now feel the fixed-head E-Type coupe is the most attractive E-Type!! I think that Don Isgrig's black E-Type fixed-head coupe is particularly stunning. Sorry Steve!!) The only thing that was keeping me from starting a Jaguar stable, and providing Ol' Yeller with a sister, was the XK8's price. By waiting for one to come off a one-year lease, I could substantially lower the price. In 1999 I found a 1998 XK8 convertible in Topaz (should have been called champagne beige!!) in Atlanta, and Ol' Yeller had her sister. The drive from Atlanta with the top down was exquisite!!
The beauty of Jaguar's designs made it necessary to add two Jaguar brothers to Ol' Yeller's stable, a 2003 XJ8 sedan and a 2010 XF sedan. The XJ8 is my main driver, and as it now has 140,000 miles on it, the XF is its replacement. To illustrate the beauty of Jaguar's designs, I came out of the West Chester post office not long ago where I had driven the XJ8. A man was standing next to the car waiting for me. He said “That is one of the best looking cars ever built. Don't ever sell it!!” The car was 16 years old at the time – Timeless Beauty!!
Ol' Yeller's Best Contribution – The Friends in JCGC! The impact of Jaguar and Ol' Yeller on my life the past nearly 53 years has been substantial. But nothing has been more impactful than being involved with and meeting all of our great friends from the Jaguar Club of Greater Cincinnati. Joan and I are charter members, and I remember some of the early discussions centered around what the JCGC activities might be. As I have always been interested in just “looking at Jaguars,” I suggested we find a place where we can get all JCGC members together with their Jags, stand around with a few beers, and enjoy talking about our cars. The idea seemed to gain traction and I was given the task of finding a suitable location for the “gathering.” As the White House in West Chester was one of my favorite restaurants at the time and had perfect facilities for such a gathering, I proposed this be the location. The White House was willing to allow us to use their substantial lawn facilities behind the restaurant and what subsequently has become known as the mini-Concours was initiated. The White House was also willing to expand the bar onto the lawn for our drinking pleasure!
The White House also hosted a number of our JCNA-sanctioned Concours d'Elegance. With the superb help of Rich Frantz and Steve Locker, it was a pleasure to chair these events from 2005 until 2012. One of my prize possessions is the trophy in the form of a “shower” presented to me by Rich Frantz, when I relinquished the chair position, for having eight consecutive Concours d'Elegance events without a single rain-out!!
In addition to the car events that are the centerpiece of JCGC activities, the social activities of the club have become extremely important to Joan and me, and also helped to solidify friendships with a number of JCGC members. It was sad that Covid-19 led to cancellation of the Derby Party and the Holiday Party for 2020. In addition, JCGC members are the primary invitees of the House Concerts that Joan and I have been conducting since 2009. We love sharing music with our JCGC friends and really missed doing so this year. Hopefully this will all be behind us soon as the vaccines are rolled out.
The Last Saga: “What Will Happen to Ol' Yeller?? It has been fun putting together a summary of how this beautiful car has impacted the lives of Joan and myself. My final thought is “What will happen to Ol' Yeller” when it's present (and only) owner takes that final Jaguar ride in the sky. Rich Frantz has agreed to help Joan with that decision when it needs to be made. I hope she finds a good home!!
Thank you very much to all of you for letting me take you through 53 years of a wonderful ride.
Sincerely and with much Appreciation,
Don Leedy, Past President and Secretary
Jaguar Club of Greater Cincinnati