On December 15 a great but very bashful Jaguar man passed away unknown in Sydney.

Born in Brackley, the heart today of F1 in the UK, Chris Leaver’s family hosted Giuseppe Farina for the first ever Formula 1 race!  In 1990 our editor saw the 500th Formula 1 race in Adelaide with Chris.

Chris became a very early and super prestigious Jaguar Apprentice in the 1950s, and was a key member of the Competition group who serviced and supplied parts, often on the run, to teams racing Lightweight E-Types.

He became Service Manager under his boss Lofty England (above) in the early 1960s before becoming the Overseas Service Manager for Jaguar.  For that he travelled the world continuously, and eventually settled in Sydney in 1970 after falling in love with distributor Jack Bryson’s beautiful step-daughter (above).

After Jack died in 1972 Chris and Helene set up a Jaguar service business in Sydney which they ran for many years at Artarmon.

Chris was very much the proper Englishman, but sadly Helene died around 20 years ago.

He left a brother in England, other family – and we are proud to say we were very close to he and Helene.

RIP Chris.  Your journey is over.