I attended the 10th annual yesterday and the first thing worth
reporting is that Alpines outnumbered Tigers 4 to 3. That's not a ratio,
it is the actual number. In addition , Tony Fontaine brought his racing
Imp that some of you may have seen at SUNI III. The white one with
diagonal red,blue, yellow stripes.
Better than 200 cars were present at the Hickory Corners Gilmore
Auto Museum ( near Kalamazoo MI ) which is a fantastic location for a
show. Besides the restored farm buildings that house the museum there is
a restored 1920's (?) era Shell filling station on the grounds that was
used for show Headquarters. The sound of bagpipes filled the air and the
sight of a London double decker bus giving rides around the estate
helped advance the mood of being somewhere British.
A paved, flat oval track , set in the lawn , was made available
for some mild autocross activity, no helmet required. Cones were set up
to challenge any interested drivers and at the end of the event ,Tony
and his Imp collected some hardware for turning in one of the best
times. As far is I could tell, his was the only Rootes vehicle
participating. I wasn't aware times were being recorded or I would have
joined the fray. Next year!
One of the Tigers received honors ( I believe the owners name was
Buschy? ) in the 1964-1968 category. Rather that arrange the cars by
Marque, this year they decided to group them by age. In this way I was
able to park next to my brother in his 66' TR4A . The drawback is that
you have to compete for popular vote against Healeys and Jags and in our
case the TR4A which took best of 64-68.
The only downside of the day was a late afternoon cloudburst which
sent everyone running for cover into the museum buildings ( except
for the MGA owners who were still busy snapping on their isenglass side
windows).
Hickory Corners is set in the rolling countryside which makes for a
beautiful drive to and from the event. Any of you in lower Michigan or
northern Ind., Ohio, Illinois should put it on the calendar for next
year. I will certainly be returning.
Rob Nanzig
67SV
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