The second annual British Invasion was held from 18 to 20-Sep-1992 in Stowe VT.
Weather was unseasonably warm on Friday (mid 80's 'till sundown) so it was top
down cruising on the way up. There were some showers late Friday night, early
Sat. morning but the field was basically dry by showtime.
There nearly 300 participants in the field show on Saturday. All attendees were
treated to a dose of British culture including bangers and mash and Double
Diamond ale (if they chose to do so.) There were a bunch of vendors exhibiting
(and selling) everything including British Travel info, british memorabilia.
There was even a Land Rover Dealer (Rovers North of VT) with several new
Defenders on display. One company was selling a reproduction Mini, complete
with Rover 998 cc power plant. (Note: if there is any interest, I can post some
vitals about the Mini.) People were very interested in this car, and they were
letting people take test rides with it! There was a guy selling chances to win
a Corvette (chevy), and just about everyone was asking him if it had any
parts made in Britain ;-)
There was a great showing of vehicles from the 20's through the present. These
included TR's, MG's, Bentley's, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Sunbeams, TVR's, Mini's,
Morgans, Austin-Healeys, Land Rovers...just about all marques had at least one
example present.
Highlights: One lucky participant won a free round-trip ticket to England
courtesy of British Air. There was a one-sided rugby match (one of the teams
did not show up for some reason. There was a cricket match, and all attendees
and participants were stopped at the entrance by some royal marines from a
bygone era and asked if they were loyal subjects of the King! Nice touch. All
vehicles in the show had their pictures taken as they entered the field.
Participants could also attend a banquet on Sat. night featuring one of the
casts from the Medieval Manor (in the Boston area) for a fee. Sounds like it
was fun.
Car highlights: Gorgeous 1926 6.5 litre Bentley. Really nice car. A near
perfect Series 1 XKE. It was _black_, and you could really see your reflection
in the paint. There were plenty of TR's, a lot of people drove in from various
Canadian locations. MG had quite a presence, probably the most vehicles from a
single manufacturer.
There were several kit-cars. One was the previously mentioned repro-mini. There
was a _cobra_ and a Marcos Mini. There was a C-type Jaguar that I think was a
kit (it had a Fiberglas nose)(any comments about C-types are welcome, but I
believe the original was most likely aluminium.) And there was a thing called a
Tipo Dio (sp?) '61 Birdcage which had TR3 driveline components. I have mixed
feelings about the presence of kit cars...er... specialty vehicles at this type
of event, but it was interesting seeing them.
There was a car auction on Sunday, I didn't make it, however. There was a car
corral on Friday and sat., the prices seemed quite high. Examples: BT7 '62 AH
3000 Mk II, $16k. This was a nice car, but not perfect. 75 MG Miget, clean
$6500...that seemed quite high. There were some neat cars in the corral too.
There was a late 40's Triumph Mayflower, a Jaguar XKSS (Kit car with Jaguar
power) for big bucks ( > 50k.) There were some non-british cars too, one was a
Lamborghini with a bumper sticker that read "My other car is a piece of crap
too." There was a really nice TR3 for $15k, it looked restored, probable 95
points or so.
It was a fun weekend. The area is beautiful (in the Green Mountains), there
are plenty of local twisty roads (it took us 12 hours to drive around 275
miles back to Boston ;-), and the weather was gorgeous. I'm planning for next
year already.
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