Start of the Journey of an Aussie 1990 Convertible – by member Shane Bowering

 

This is the first of a two part article that has been written by Australian member Shane Bowering, of Red Tape Busters, about the journey his 1990 Jaguar 5.3l Convertible has taken.
 
Part 1 starts off from when the car was in Japan, it’s life with it’s famous owner, and how it passed into Shane’s possession.
Part 2, (found here) concludes the journey in Brisbane as the car is transformed in stages under Shane’s ownership.

 

The Beginning : From Japan to being owned by an Aussie Mining Magnate

 

This is the story of my Japan delivered, Aussie imported, 1990 Jaguar XJS Convertible.
 
The history of the car between 1990 and 2006 in Japan is unknown, as there is no documentation of the ownership there.
 
The car was imported into Australia back in 2006.

 

Nathan Tinkler
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
It was then purchased by none other than Nathan Tinkler – “famous” Australian mining magnate or is that former mining magnate. The car was purchased by Tinkler’s company Oceltip back in 2009 for an expensive sum in those days of A$45,500. I have no idea why Tinkler bought the car – did he just love the car, was he adding it to his collection, was it purchased when he was just a small town celebrity before he made his big millions, I am not sure of his motivation.
 
What I do know is that his bodyguard signed all the paperwork for the car, so maybe it was the bodyguard’s show off car…. who knows. My best guess is that it was a car for the bodyguard to drive but with the international jetsetting and as the millions rolled in – a Jaguar XJS Convertible was simply disposable.
 
Nathan Tinkler first became a millionaire in Australia in 2006 and set off on the lifestyle of the rich and famous realising multi million dollar riches from Coal mining and investing. His riches rose and fell in line with the price of coal between 2006 and around 2015/16. He purchased planes, cars, luxury homes, football clubs and racehorses.

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Article Published : September 2021
Article written by : Shane Bowering
www.xjs-soft-tops.com