Jaguar Drivers Club A Jaguar Clubs of North America Affiliate January 2019 of Long Island 9 Frazer Court Greenlawn, NY 11740 REMEMBERING THE ULTIMATE BRITISH CAR GUY – MICHAEL L. COOK President Mike Carroll [email protected] 516-607-6074 Vice President Quentin Nieman [email protected] 2nd Vice President Don Wolf [email protected] Concours Chairman Mike Carroll [email protected] Chief Judge Rich Mooers Originally posted on November 29, 2018 at Land Rover (and Triumph) archival [email protected] www.jaguarlandrover.com material at his home before anyone in the company ever thought it might be Membership On November 27, Jaguar Land Rover Vlad Prutsky lost a dear friend and passionate something we needed. Is there a [email protected] lifelong advocate, Michael Cook, to stronger word than dedicated? pneumonia at the age of 85. Mike had A visit to the Archives or an email Treasurer a storied career in advertising and exchange with Mike quickly revealed Graham Scaife public relations for a murderer’s row the impressive depth of Mike’s [email protected] of British brands: Rover, Land Rover, knowledge and affection he had for Austin, MG, Jaguar and his beloved these unique cars, and the people that Secretary Triumph. He retired from Jaguar as made, marketed, raced and owned MaryAnn Dellinger Director of U.S. Public Relations in them. It was always a pleasure for [email protected] 1991. Mike to assist someone, and a greater pleasure to be helped by him. Social Media Chairman Up until this very week, Mike had Eliud Custodio been a constant, determined and In addition to his 2nd career as [email protected] cheerful fixture at the Jaguar Land Jaguar (and eventually Land Rover) Rover North American headquarters, archivist, Mike was prominent in the Board Directors running our JLR U.S. historical Jaguar and Triumph Club worlds, and Ivan Scarborough archives department, which he a prolific author and editor of created with Karen Miller in the historical publications. Did I mention Newletter Editor 1980s. For many of those years, Mike he was a racer himself and publicist Richard Scalice ran the Archives department like a for numerous Jaguar and Triumph [email protected] car makers’ skunk works operation: racing teams? Talk about being a he was going to keep it going whether “car guy”! Facebook page: anyone officially knew about it or not. www.facebook.com/jdcli/ Mike personally kept the Rover and (Continued on page 2) It’s one of those career cliches we often hear: Do something you love. Mike Cook loved working with our company and British automobiles so much that he dedicated his entire career to it. We are all honored to have worked with him, we thank him again, and we will miss him dearly. Mike passed away peacefully, in the company of his family, with his favorite Miles Davis playing in the background. - Stuart Schorr, Vice President, Communications, Jaguar Land Rover North America Michael L. Cook, 1933 - 2018 Born in Winnipeg, Canada on May 20, 1933, Michael L. “Mike” Cook grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father was an executive with Proctor & Gamble. After a series of pre-war American cars, Cook bought his first English sports car in 1958. Fresh out of college, he paid for the 1955 Triumph TR2 with a 1956 Volkswagen Beetle and $400 cash. From there, Cook’s love of British cars grew, leading him to spend the rest of his life deeply involved in the marketing and public relations efforts that made Americans fall in love with British cars. One of Cook’s favorite product launches was for the Triumph Herald at the 1960 New York International Auto Show. Cook eventually moved up to become advertising and public relations manager for Triumph in North America. He would stay at Standard-Triumph for nine years through a series of corporate mergers which reshaped the face of the brand. Now surrounded by sister brands of Jaguar, MG, Rover and Land Rover, Cook dedicated his life to promoting British vehicles in America. Cook continued as public relations manager for nearly a decade until the company was purchased by The Ford Motor Company in December of 1989. During his career, Cook also oversaw all Motorsports and PR activities for the Triumph and Jaguar brands, from SCCA amateur racing to Trans-AM and the IMSA GTP program with both Group 44 and TWR racing. Cook himself also raced on an amateur level, in TR3s, Spitfires and eventually TR7s and TR8s. Cook’s last great event prior to his retirement was the grand opening of the $25 million dollar Jaguar North American headquarters on MacArthur Boulevard in Mahwah, NJ in 1990. He hosted royal guests including Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson for the new building’s ribbon cutting ceremony. Cook stayed on with the Jaguar brand through the end of 1991. But “retirement” was not in his nature. Since leaving Jaguar full-time, he published three books, “The Triumph Spitfire,” “The Illustrated Jaguar Buyers Guide” and “Triumph Cars in America.” He also updated John Dugdale’s “Jaguar in America”. He was the editor of two magazines, Jaguar Journal until 2015 and The Vintage Triumph, until his passing, for the members of Vintage Triumph Register. Additionally, he had written a monthly column for the greatly lamented Hemmings’ Sport & Exotic Car. Cook was also instrumental in setting up the Jaguar North American Archives (now the Jaguar Land Rover North American Archives) at the corporate facility in Mahwah, New Jersey, where he worked up until his recent illness. The archives contain the company papers, literature, thousands of images, racing memorabilia, trophies, heritage certificates, films, videos and other resources documenting Jaguar, Land Rover and all makes of British cars in America. Cook worked at the Jaguar Land Rover archives two days a week, researching answers to historical questions. Mike Cook was a resident of Wayne, New Jersey, and is survived by his four children. Holiday Party - December 1, 2018 All photos courtesy of Brad Kilarjian On December 1, 2018 our Club held its annual Holiday Party and 45th Anniversary Party at the Northport Yacht Club in Northport, New York. There was a terrific turnout as this year it was decided that the event would be a brunch instead of a dinner. There was plenty of food and drink to go around. Fruit, salads and hot dishes were available buffet style where the servers would be generous when adding to your plate. There was even an omelet station so that you could get a customized egg creation to satisfy your palette. Jaguar of Huntington was present and brought along a brand-new I Pace for the Club’s members to take turns driving around the hills of Northport. They also provided a technician who rode shotgun and explained the features and options available. He would adjust your ride so that you could experience the different modes and setting that an all-electric vehicle has to suit your needs. There is a definite difference between an electric vehicle and a combustion engine that you must feel for yourself. President Mike Carroll gave an excellent speech detailing the various events, the member’s contributions, and highlights from the past year. There was discussion of upcoming events planned for 2019 and an officer’s meeting is scheduled to be held mid-January to finalize the events being slated. Special glass coasters with the Club’s logo was provided to everyone to commemorate the occasion. We wish to thank everyone who attended and all of our members that make the Club one to be proud of. For more pictures, please go to our website www.jdcli.com under the “Events” tab or the “Photo Gallery” tab. HOW TO KEEP YOUR JAGUAR ON THE ROAD BY GETTING ORGANIZED By Edward T. LaGrassa How many drawers, shelves, cubby holes and assorted places contain “all” your Jaguar-related papers and materials? How long would it take you to locate that article or bit of information that you desperately need now? Where is the telephone number of that guy in Ohio who can fix a pinion gear? Which issue of Jaguar Journal had that article on positive grounding? Do these questions sound familiar? Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this dilemma – GET ORGANIZED. I have found a method of achieving this quickly and easily with most of your Jaguar material collected and kept in one place. Put everything in a few three-ringed binders. I have done this and it has been a great resource to me and other Jaguar owners who borrow my three binders. Materials Required: One or two thick 3-hole loose leaf binders, a sturdy hole-punch and index tabs. 1. Create a list of sections that work for you, see my guide below as a reference. Once you begin you will be adding more tabs to suit your own needs. 2. Cull through the muck and mire of envelops and papers stored throughout the house, garage and study. 3. Tear that one page or article from Road and Track that you have been saving for years and throw away the rest of the magazine. 4. For those magazine that you are really saving, make a photo copy of the page or article and put it in the binder. You might consider a separate binder for parts catalogs only. Remember to throw out the old issues when received. Once you set up the system it is very easy to maintain. For those so inclined who want to eliminate as much paper as possible, scan all your material and then put them into data files within a master folder.