Dude, here’s my car | A jigsaw puzzle of a Jag

Now at 75, that childhood dream is still taking shape in a Mooroopna workshop, one puzzle piece at a time.

In 1990, after seeing a friend buy the iconic sports car, he decided to chase the dream himself.

After getting permission from his wife Mary, he bought a classic 4.2-litre 1965 Jaguar E-Type in Old English white.

“This car was a result of a midlife crisis, a boomer’s vanity and a lot of dollars.”

Mrs Tinkler was never entirely convinced.

“There's not enough room in the back for the groceries,” she said with a laugh.

Even Mr Tinkler said that “they're not super practical”.

“But, it's a beautiful car. And it's actually an easy car to drive – it's just four gears and a very torquey motor.

“We drove it for the best part of 10 years.”

As a farmer, when drought struck and money ran dry, Mr Tinkler made the difficult decision to put his dream car into storage.

A few years later, when his daughter was getting married, he decided the Jag would carry her to the ceremony.

But it wasn’t to be.

“I had stored it in a shipping container, which was the worst thing to do because it got hot and that ruined the paintwork,” he said.

“Just a teaspoon of coolant got in the wrong place and seized the motor.”

“Since then, we've had 20 years of mucking around with various people, rebuilding the engine and trying to get the panel work done.”

At one stage the car was temporarily lost; at another it sat in a workshop that was caught up in an ownership dispute.

Finally, in 2023, the Jag was delivered to Noel Heenan’s workshop.

Now Mr Heenan and co-worker Rod Crawford are painstakingly bringing the car back to life.

“It's been like a jigsaw puzzle. But we haven't got the picture on the box because the box got lost, and we haven't got all the parts,” Mr Tinkler said.

Most replacement parts have come from England, where the Jag hails from.

There is no confirmed completion date, but Mr Tinkler is already dreaming about going on a proper drive.

“I've always said my one true ambition is to drive the E-Type down the Great Ocean Road.”