I've really enjoyed reading the bio's and will include mine. I'm 53 and
have been a British car nut since age 23 when I bought my first, a '69
Austin-Healey Sprite. I'm still married to my first wife ;-), in spite of
the fact that I've lost count of how many times she's said "If you buy one
more car I'll divorce you!' She has said an equal number of times 'You
should buy that MG, it's a really good deal.' We still have the car that we
had when we got married, a '63 Falcon Sprint with 289 V8, four-speed et al.
I sold the A-H Sprite when it started giving trouble and I had not yet
learned to work on British cars. I have corrected that problem.
I bought my first old sports car in '73, a '59 TR3 that is now in the barn
waiting for the reinstall on the patched gas tank and recovered seats.
There's another TR3 in the barn that I bought from a friend that I would
like to do up as a vintage racer. That one's not been run since '75 and is
partially disassembled. There's also a '63 Jag E-type roadster that runs
well but needs paint, carpet, etc.. In the garage is a '54 MGTF and a '74
Jensen-Healey that are both daily drivers. Well, OK, they don't get driven
daily but they could be.
I spent 4 years Air Force, including 1.5 years in SE Asia in '65-'66,
Thailand, VietNam and Phillipines. Worked for IBM for 22 years as Field
Engineer, Instructor, Manager, HQ staff and middle management. Quit in '89
to do consulting work in international business which took me to places
like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait (I had the first business visa into
Kuwait after the war). Also travelled to/worked in Holland, Czechoslovakia
(before and after the split), and most all of Europe and Eastern Europe. Go
to England once or twice a year on business and to drool over the cars there.
I started wife (Sandy) in a small gift shop in '89 and in '95 we started
franchising it. Now have 13 stores, details on www.bayleafpeddler.com for
those interested. We have a bright young lady (25) from Slovakia living
with us and working in the business since '95. She is searching for a
Trabant here in the US. (She's also searching for the right bright young
American guy.) We have one son (very smart but totally lacking in interest
in cars) and a 3 yr old granddaughter who I will train properly in the
garage arts. Currently I'm helping son get his business started, building
an interactive, on-line video game. Probably do the programming over in
Eastern Europe.
I've owned and let go too many cars to list. Probably 50-60. I wish I'd
been able to keep the '82 Ferrari 308 GTSi Quattrovalve and the '62
Mercedes 190 SL. One day I'll find a good deal on another 190 SL. TR3 is
probably more fun to drive than anything else I've owned.
Dick Dell
Raleigh NC
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