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"The Jaguar Ball"

By John Crawford

Published: 3rd January 2018

Reproduced from a 2016 Driving & Life article, John Crawford recounts the extraordinary logistics, pressure, and last‑minute drama behind ‘The Jaguar Ball’—a bold marketing gamble that coincided with Jaguar’s triumphant return to Bathurst and helped sell every XJ‑SC allocated to Australia for the following year.

The year 1985 represented a moment of enormous potential for Jaguar in Australia. Since 1979, confidence in the marque had been slowly rebuilt, media perception was improving, and sales were steadily increasing. However, by mid‑year it became clear that, buoyed by this renewed optimism, Jaguar Rover Australia had ordered far too many XJ‑S Cabriolets and Coupés.


Jaguar XJ-S models

Something had to be done to move these cars. The board of Jaguar Rover Australia d