Hi Chris:
It was good to put a face to the e-mailer! Your car certainly IS
gorgeous. I had a hard time not slobbering on it's paint yesterday.
And I think you mentioned said paint is about 6 years old!
Dave Chenault (who by the way lives in Orange County and to my knowledge
isn't an SDSOG member but who "lived" at Smittys while he worked on his
car) just finished a 3-year restoration on his pointy-fin. It's been on
the road a few weeks at most. It's not perfect, but it looks very good.
Did it deserve to win? I'll stay away from that and say instead that
I'd like to think that the win was as much a way of honoring the sheer
effort he put into that ground-up restoration. Combine the joy of
getting the thing back on the road again (how many of you know of or
have experienced failed restorations) with winning a trophy--rigged or
not. He may never get another trophy--but he's got this one to
commemorate the hard work he put into his car. I think that's pretty
neat.
Of course, I voted for MY car though I knew it hadn't a snowballs
chance--not with cars like Dave's, yours and Alwyn's around.
While I lust after a car that looks a good as yours, I liked Alwyn's V-6
conversion just as much. Again, a just-finished years-long trail of
blood, sweat and tears that was drop-dead gorgeous. I know mine will
never look that good, 'cause I won't take the time away from driving it
to do the necessary. But if ever a just-finished car deserved to win,
it was Alwyn's. I'd imagine he feels a bit worse than you do. He's
spent years working on his car, it's just been back on the road for a
short time--and he didn't get an "attaboy".
This isn't to denigrate the time and effort you've spent on your
car--but you HAVE had the pleasure of driving it the past few years.
Dave hasn't.
If I had a car that looks as good as yours I might be upset at the
ballot stuffing too. I don't, so perhaps that negates my response.
If you want to boycott British Car Day it will be my/our loss not to see
your beautiful car here. On the other hand, if you come for the joy of
the drive and the excitement of seeing hundreds of other british cars
(most of which DON'T look as good as yours)and not for a trophy you'll
have a much better time--and I'll get the pleasure of seeing your car
again, which I would like very much.
Regards
David Sosna
65 S4 GT V6 that ain't gonna win any awards:-)
Christopher Albers wrote:
>
> 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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