This is a belated "report" of British Cars Day at the Museum of Transportation
at Larz Anderson Park, Brookline, Massachusetts on 19 July 1992. I was on a
weeks vacation following the show and this week has been hectic, hence why
no earlier report. I was surprised no-one else posted anything.
A group of us SOLers arranged to meet at noon. I was running a little
late, but managed to arrive at the meeting by 12.15 pm or so. I was the
last to arrive. Bob Tufts, Bob Leger, Bob Lang, Dave Ahrendt and Skip
Tanner were talking amongst themselves when I finally showed up.
I'd met Bob Leger and Bob Tufts before. Bob Leger, BTW, is not currently
on the list, dropping off at the same time as Jim Muller when Alliant
Computers went under. The good news is that Bob says he has accepted a
job at Sun and hopes to be back on the list again soon.
There was one no-show, as far as I know. Bob Leger said that "Ovr Fovnder",
Dale Cook, was supposed to have met us. Well, Dale, this is the third
year straight I was supposed to finally meet you at the show and you
never made it!!! Dale I hope you're reading this!
Bob Lang had the SOL logo, that was posted to hoosier as a GIF, on his
white t-shirt. Looked great! See, I told you we should have t-shirts
made up!
We chatted for a while and asked about each others cars. Bob Tufts had
his special edition, black 1979 Lotus Espirit S2 parked near by with some
other Loti. Bob Leger's primrose yellow 1968 TR-250 was down in the middle
of the other cars. Skip Tanner had an antique white 1966 Austin-Healey Sprite
he recently purchased, not too far from Bob's TR-250. Bob Lang had a maroon
1974 TR6 parked at the other end of the grounds. Dave said his 1946 MG TC
was "over there, no not the nice one, the 'tatty' one".
So we went over to look at Dave's "tatty" TC. We each expected faded paint,
perhaps some rust, ragged interior, peeling dash-board, missing parts or
whatever else defines the word "tatty" when applied to old cars. We were
amazed to find the car in fabulous condition! We weren't sure if Dave
was having us on, or was so used to seeing so many condition 1 TCs (he
came down from New Hampshire with some other MG drivers). According to Dave
his TC was "Ford green" (a few shades lighter than BRG) with a red grille.
Very nice indeed! I asked Dave if he had a name for his car. When he said
no, I suggested "Tatty" would make a great name :-) Bob Leger took a photo
of the car and suggested if we get it GIFed (Bob Lang offered to scan it in
I think), he suggested the GIF filename be tatty.tc :-) Anyway, enough fun at
Dave's expense.
After a while we broke up and went our separate ways although I would
see each one occasionally while going around the cars.
Familiar cars from previous years shows were there. However, I was
disappointed that the Aston Martin contingent was small. Only two DB4s.
For the second year running my favourite car was the black Jaguar 3.8 Litre
MkII in absolutely pristine condition. Somehow I have gotta get a car
just like this (this is in answer to Bob Leger's question, "What car
are you lusting after this year, Garry?"). If I can't get an Aston Martin,
I'll just have to settle for the Jag :-)
I bought the June and July issues from the "British Marque" vendor tent.
(I must subscribe to this newspaper one of these days!) On page 16 of the
June issue there was a familiar photo of a Mini Cooper S. Owned by
Peggy Iandoli. Then it dawned on me that I had seen that car at the
Brookline show!!! It was a bright orange with the two white racing stripes
down the bonnet (like the Cooper "factory" racing colours). The Iandolis
had at least four cars at the show. The Mini, and MGB and two Jags, one
an E-Type and the other was an XK1?0 I think... can't remember now.
Back on page 9 of the June issue under the heading of "Minor News" (newsletter
of the Morris Minor Registry) they reported on the 13th Annual British
Car Meet at El Camino Park in Palo Alto on 8 September 1991 (800 British
cars!!!). They were mentioning the variety of cars there and continued,
"the Triumph folks brought out almost as many globe-badged beauties,
featuring examples of erotica like an early Mayflower saloon and Richard
Nyquist's award-winning 1800 'dickey seat' roadster." Is this our own
Dick Nyquist, I wonder? Hmmm, Dick wasn't on the 1992 survey, so I checked
the 1991 survey:
MAKE MODEL YEAR COND
------------------------------------------------------
Triumph 1800, rdstr '48 2/3 tho it has won every
time shown
Sure seems like Dick's car to me! We have a celebrity amongst us!
On page 4 of the July issue there was a feature on the British T Shop in
Oakdale, Connecticut. I stopped by there a few months ago to look at
what they had. A great place. Lots of TVRs, MGBs, Triumphs and Jags.
A good article too.
Anyway, it was a great show. As our little group agreed at the time,
you can always tell when its British Cars Day at Brookline --- it was
very hot and very humid (and its been the coolest July since 1960 too!)
same as it has been in the three years I've been going!
Can't wait for next year! Hope to see all Upper Right Coasters then!
Cheers!
Garry Archer Esq. archer@hsi.com
3M Health Information Systems, Wallingford, Connecticut, U.S.A.
"An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose." - A.P.Herbert
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