Hi Ron and NOBBC club members,
First, I hope you are recovering nicely Ron - sounds like you'll be
ready for a drive in a few weeks.
Just a quick note about Sunday's drive for those who would like a
vicarious experience.
It was a small group - Marla and Andy, Walter, who didn't go with us but
met up to chat, Dennis and Cheryl, John Kenner in his Europa (buy it now
while it's cheap), and Trish and our friend Jane in the TR6, and me in
the Elan. Looks like everyone else was still recovering after the
anniversary drive! We chatted for about 1/2 hour, then headed off, with
Trish and Jane leading the group.
The group was small, but the drive was quite nice - we went River Rd. to
Mirabel, to 116, to Occidental Rd. into Occidental where we stopped for
sandwiches. As it usually seems to happen in Occidental, we had a number
of car admirers. One couple who had owned a Lotus Eclat in the past
admired our Elan and John's Europa and pumped us for information. Seems
he got the spark to buy another Lotus after seeing ours! We also picked
up a stray car lover - a driver in a tricked out Datsun 510 was heading
out of town when we arrived, and by the time we had all gotten our food
to go and were leaving the parking lot, he snuck in behind and followed
the group. From there, we took Coleman Valley Road, which was getting
pretty darned foggy, prompting some of us (those with them still
attached), to use their windshield wipers. Guess I should put them on
for drives to the coast in the future...
Coming down Coleman Valley Road (always a scenic treat), we cruised up
to Goat Rock. Instead of driving the dirt road all the way to the lower
parking lot, we stopped at the upper lot overlooking the beach and Goat
Rock, met our stowaway, admired his 510, had lunch, and chatted some
more. The sun was out, the fog gone, and the view was beautiful.
We drove back by River Road, and then split up from there.
It never seems to fail - when we get our cars out in public, stopped
long enough for them to see, they invariably want to talk to us about
them and either ask what they are, or reminisce about the MG or Triumph
that they had in their youth. (Insert personal rant here...) Public
interest is what keeps these cars alive, especially as current owners
age or drop out of the sport. I think we all would love to see these
cars around for a long time, and getting more people interested in them
is a key to that. Also, the more public support we have, the more likely
we'll be able to stave off more onerous laws affecting collector cars,
like the recent bill requiring stringent annual smog checks of cars from
1976 onward (instead of biennial). I think we as a club might want to
give some more thought to choosing more destinations or starting points
that are visible to the public. Gives us a chance to have a mini car
show without all the organizing, judging, etc., and we'll meet new folks.
To that end, I propose that we pick a day to meet at the Round Table
Pizza on Occidental Road in Santa Rosa. Suggestions for other locations
are welcome, however this place has a great parking lot with shade that
is visible from the freeway and Occidental Road, the restaurant does
really good business, and there are three meeting rooms, so we could
reserve one and get together for a pizza while giving time for the
public to admire the cars.
Since I'm bringing up ideas, Cheryl and I thought that it would be nice
to select a Marin County starting point for one of the drives in an
effort to entice our southern members to join up. When we did this some
time ago, we succeeded in getting several drivers and cars we either
hadn't met, or hadn't seen for awhile. It also gives us a change of
pace, and although there might not be as many tight curvy roads, there
are some beautiful drives and destinations. What do y'all think?
Cheers,
Greg Tatarian
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