HODDO'S LEGACY

It slipped out of the public's eye in 1961 having finished third in the Australian Touring Car Championship. Now the revival of the Ron Hodgson Mk2 racer is a tale with no equal ..

- LES. HUGHES

HOW COULD A RACING JAGUAR THIS SIGNIFICANT HAVE BEEN OUT OF PUBLIC sight for so long? We are talking about the first Mk2 to race in Australia: a car which finished third at Lowood in the 1961 Australian Touring Car Championship, ahead of the Bob Jane Mk2 and behind two factory-built ‘Mk1’ Jaguars - then soon after was put into storage and not raced again! It is the red Mk2 of very colourful Sydney car dealer, the late-Ron Hodgson who owned multiple dealerships including Holden, Ferrari, and Jaguar.

Kevin Bartlett - and David Bowden who owns the finest car collection in Australia - remember ‘Hoddo’ racing his 1958 works-prepared ex-David McKay ‘Mk1’ the ‘Grey Pussy’, before he sold it to the Geoghegan family and moved onto this Mk2. They agree Ron was excitable behind the steering wheel and not the most skilled driver on the track, but he had the most colourful cars and drove them with gusto to successfully promote his businesses.

Ron was what an Aussie would call a ‘lair’ or larrikin (a boisterous, often badly behaved young man!) perfectly suited to his business! But he was different to most. He was hugely ambitious, unconventional, daring, loved motor racing - and saw it as the perfect means to promote his business and personal profile. It worked, and Hodgson could be called the New South Wales version of Bob Jane in Victoria, although they were vastly different characters.

Where Jane was dour and aggressive, Hodgson was large, gregarious and lived life on the edge with a beaming smile. He was immensely likeable despite his often wayward actions.