Ian started collecting from a very early age. In his lifetime, he collected many varied things, but his number one passion was cars, and particularly Jaguars.
Born in 1938, his love affair with Jaguars started with a Jaguar XK120 swap card in a cereal box when he was about 10. By the time he was 18, he managed to save enough to buy a partially damaged and repossessed XK120 roadster.
He could only afford enough petrol to do a few laps of Griffiths’ main street to impress the girls. He later rolled this car on the way to watch the Bathurst races in 1957, it was an expensive lesson in making sure you insured your car.
However, he didn’t confine himself to just Jaguars, he also had Austin-Healeys and a Triumph TR2 in between not having enough money to own a Jag! He developed his skill as a driver by doing Motorkhanas and ‘unofficial’ races in the back blocks of country towns - usually in his VW Beetle.
His mechanical skills were developed from being an apprentice tractor mechanic and then going to Technical College and running a business for farm equipment maintenance, but he was mainly self-taught from tinkering with and rebuilding many cars. His great skill though was attention to detail. Over his lifetime he went on to own dozens of XKs and almost every Jaguar model type from 1930 to 1990, in various states of repair.
Moving to Sydney in 1967 with his young family enabled him to take full advantage of his passion, as it was there he met like-minded people in the Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia. Family holidays in the 1970s and 1980s were centred on going to Jaguar functions throughout Australia. He was also an avid Jaguar Concours entrant and eventually stopped to become a concours judge; which coincidently was the same time his children decided to stop spending several weeks of their time detailing the cars that the family entered.
John ‘Jumbo’ Goddard (D-Type OKV1) became a mentor and a great influence on him. For example, in September 1974 with Jumbo Goddard and Neville Webb, Ian helped drive Jumbo’s 1924 Bentley 3-4 ½ Litre from Sydney to Adelaide in a record attempt (that probably still holds for a Vintage car) covering 1,043 miles (1,679km) in 20 hours.
A trip to the UK with Jumbo in 1968 opened his eyes to the world of car collecting. Ian acquired the ex-Boorman/Gardner Jaguar C-Type XKC037 in 1969 and later restored it competing in historic car events.
He then acquired Jaguar D-Type XKD510 in 1974, which had been dismantled after a crash in the 1963 Singapore GP. He borrowed $10,000 to buy the D-Type, which at that time could have bought a modest house and it took him several years to show his wife the ‘investment’ he had made!
On another trip to England, he was told that he needed to send the D-Type there, as he would not be able to restore it correctly in Australia. So, with a partner he started Classic Autocraft in Sydney to prove them wrong.
As well as looking after OKV1, they not only restored XKD510, but also other famous D-Types XKD526 and XKD545. They also built 2 meticulous replica D-Types with many original parts that are considered to be the best in the world. Ian’s connection with Jaguar cars and particularly his knowledge on XKs, C-Types and D-types meant that he made many interesting friends around the world, and he cherished those friendships.
Finding the car restoration business too stressful, Ian then decided to open Australia’s first shop dedicated to model cars - partially because he saw an opportunity to service a niche market (no surprise here), but perhaps more significantly because he had a vast collection of model cars himself!
Model Cars Australia duly became the Australian sole agent for many model car making companies around the world. On display in the shop at Kent Street Sydney was the 1968 Alan Mann Ford P68 (F3L) that Ian owned together with his two sons. This car was later traded for a Cameron Miller Maserati 250F (#CM1).
In 1986, he sold Model Cars Australia and moved to England to curate the Donington Motor Museum for his friend Tom Wheatcroft. At this time, Ian had acquired the Ferrari Type 555 (Super Squalo) and took it to the UK with him. Ian and Tom would often load the Super Squalo and the V16 BRM onto the Owen Racing BRM transporter and head off to Italy or France for historic car races. One of these races at Imola in 1987 marked the 40th Anniversary of Ferrari and Tom took his Ferrari 125 and Ian the Super Squalo. It was with great pleasure that Ian let Maurice Trintignant drive the car, reunited since last driving it in 1955. Another highlight of his time spent in the UK was driving the Bugatti Royale that had belonged to Briggs Cunningham. He then sold the Super Squalo in order to buy back the Jaguar D-Type XKD510.
On returning to Australia in 1988 he wheeled and dealed in cars for a while before buying the two-storey factory in Mortlake, NSW where Classic Autocraft had been. To do this, he had to sell his treasured Ferrari 275GTB, but it enabled him to open Ian Cummins Classic Cars in 1993 to sell and service classic cars.
In 2000 Michael Ware - the curator of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu UK - was staying with Ian and after seeing his large collection of model cars, arranged for them to be shipped to the museum for a display called ‘Motoring Through Childhood’. Ian later sold the classic car business in 2007. He concentrated on his own car collection to eventually form a private car museum when he moved to Tasmania - that would open on special occasions or whenever he felt like it!
Throughout his life, wherever he went, he would look for parts, models and memorabilia. His knowledge was extensive and he would nearly always find something interesting in a shop or at an auto jumble sale, to keep, sell or swap.
Ian became a life member and then Patron of the Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia. He was a founding member of the Historic and Sports Racing Car Association of NSW (HSRCA) and a member of the Ferrari Club of Australia. He was also a classic car consultant to Pickles Auction in the 1980s and then Christies Australia in the 1990s. He also competed in the Targa Tasmania in 1998 in a 1936 Jaguar SS100.
One of Ian’s favourite sayings was “He who dies with the most toys wins” and witnessing the magnificent classic car and memorabilia collection he amassed in his lifetime, he certainly was aiming for a place on the podium!
As told by his children Paul Bryan and Anne Cummins
