Vale - Peter Briggs

Prominent W.A. businessman, motor sportsman, international car collector and Jaguar owner, Peter Briggs has died in Perth at aged 83. Briggs was born in the UK just before the onset of war. Having survived the blitz, the family emigrated to Canada and then to Australia seeking a new life. Peter was eight (8) when they arrived in Perth, but he left school at age 15. He qualified as a carpenter then became a builder and quantity surveyor. He married his wife Robin when he was just 16 and they were inseparable for 67 years. In 1972 he recovered from bankruptcy and moved into the booming WA world of mining entrepreneurship. Along the way he picked up an estimated total of 200 cars, including D-Type XKD545, Lightweight E-Type SB50667 and a number of other Jaguars. He showed his cars at events across the world winning awards at Pebble Beach California, Villa d’Este (Italy) and New Delhi in India. He entered his cars in rallies across the world, and with Robin navigating, twice won the historic Monte Carlo Rally. The town of York in the Avon valley (WA) owes a great deal to Peter Briggs. The York Motor Museum was the brainchild of Peter Briggs and sports car dealer James Harwood who suggested to Briggs that York could be a great location for a car museum. They opened that museum with 15 cars in December 1979 and Briggs was soon buying cars at international classic car auctions and shipping them back to York. His was the finest collection of classic cars Australia had ever seen and motoring enthusiasts from all over the world came to York to view the collection. Briggs quickly realised that the promotion of York as the quintessential Australian town was essential to make the museum a success and so he set about purchasing other buildings with the aim of making York the most significant inland tourism town in western Australia. He was given an award for Tourism in 1984. During the 1980s, a tax scheme attracted the attention of the Taxation Department and although he mounted a stout defence, Briggs was found guilty of tax avoidance. After serving time, he bounced back and continued to invest in new business enterprises. At one time, he was Australia’s second largest gold producer. Although the York Museum still flourishes, a number of his highly collectable cars were sold off overtime including the D-Type and Lightweight E-Type. He was a motor sporting, boutique beer establishing, city promoting and yachting personality. Peter Briggs will be remembered as a proud West Australian, fearless businessman, one of Australia’s greatest car collectors and a pioneer of the tourism industry. .

Bob Jane on his way to winning the 1963 Australian GT Championship at the wheel of his lightweight E-type. Bob Jane sold the E-type in 1980 to Peter Briggs for $76,000. Briggs sold it in 1999 for $800,000. The car sold for $9.61 million in 2017.

Information for this story from the Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia and various other sources.