My Jaguar 1957 Mk1 and 1967 S-Type

It rests among trophies and engine parts in his two-car garage where the walls are lined with motoring and motorsport posters and memorabilia.

Taking pride of place are a 1967 Jaguar S-Type and a 1957 Jaguar Mark 1. "I love the classic lines and shape of the old Jags, but they also have the performance and handling of a modern car," the retired school principal says.

Parnell bought the S-Type about 20 years ago from a Longreach man who bought it from a RAAFie who bought it new in Butterworth, Malaysia, for $6000 with airconditioning fitted.

He has since spent about $20,000 on restoration. "It's not a concourse car but I use it for rallies and weekend club events because it still runs well," he says. "It's got heaps of torque and power."

The 3.8 litre six-cylinder S-Type has 164kW of power at 5500rpm and 325Nm at 3000rpm and is mated to a four-speed manual overdrive with modern four-wheel disc brakes and independent rear suspension.

In its day it was capable of 0-100km/h in 10.3 seconds with a top speed of 201km/hr. "It's a nice drive and handles brilliantly," Parnell says But the motorsport posters and trophies give away Parnell's real passion - racing.

"As a kid you'd see Jags being raced by Rod Hodgson at Sandown," he says. "The Mark 1 won the first two Australian Touring Car Championship in 1960 and '61 then Bob Jane started racing the Mark II then the E Type and Jag was king until 1964 when the Mustangs came along."

However, Parnell's racing career started in the early 1970s, not in a Jag, but in a Honda S600 doing hilblimbs and motorkhanas. "Then along came the family and I left motorsport until the late 1990s," he says.

His return to motorsport was fittingly in a 1973 V12 Jaguar. But it was an ill-fated return with a big crash on the Noosa hillclimb. "I did a fair bit of damage and had already rebuilt it twice and I wasn't going to do it again," he says. "So I sold it in pieces and got more for it than if I had sold it as one piece."

About six years ago, he bought the '57 Mark 1 in Brisbane as a wreck for $2000 and started restoring it and modifying it as a race car to compete under the Jaguar Historic Racing Team Queensland banner with a couple of like-minded mates.

Parnell rebuilt the 3.4L twin-cam straight-six engine with better specs, different straight-port heads, triple Webbers, high-compression pistons, hand-built extractors and hot cams - "the wildest I could get".

Needless to say, almost all the Lucas "Prince of Darkness" electrics have been replaced. Parnell reckons it's good for "about 200hp at rear wheels" (150kW). "Until two weeks ago it raced seven events in nine weeks," he says.

"It won the last three events - first in class at Leyburn, Speed on Tweed and Pittsworth sprints. I often win my class. "It gets a lot of use. I do about 14 events a year."

Parnell has insured the Jags for about $20,000 each. "The Mark 1's not as pretty as the Mark 2 but it's getting more and more valuable all the time," he says. "I'd never sell these. I've spent too much time and effort on them."