Went to SDBCD yesterday and it was a fine event. Hundred's of
excellent British cars were on hand of nearly every make. There was an
good turn out of Sunbeam's, with 16 total cars, 2 "proper" Alpines (the
'53 was gorgeous), and the balance being filled by Alpines & Tigers
(sorry, didn't count them). Remarkably, there was only one "pointy
fin" Alpine there, but it took home the "Best of Marque" trophy.
Now, I must throw in my own, somewhat biased, opinion at this time. I
was amazed to see Smitty carrying around the "Best of Marque" ballot
box telling everybody which car to vote for. This bothered me for a
number of reasons, the first being quite selfish, as I was certain that
my car was far cleaner and certainly more complete (there were parts
missing from the dash & boot!) than the car that won. And certainly
there were other cars that were nicer. Second, I think people should
make their own decisions about which car should win and that no one
should be pushing a "party line," as it was put (who's line? SDAOG's?
of which I am not a member). It's just not fair to people who put tons
of work, not to mention $, into their cars to show only to have the
voting fixed. Frankly, I was disgusted at what I observed. Such to
the point that I will probably never attend that event again with my
car. The members of SDAOG should be embarrassed.
I can only speculate why this happened. Apparently it's done nearly
every year. I can only wonder. Though it was pointed out to me that
Smitty did do a significant amount of work on the car that won. But it
leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I am sorry, I just had to vent my
spleen. Let me apologize in advance if I offend anyone.
CNA
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