I spent the day in the Berkshire hills at Lime Rock Race Track in
Connecticut. The cars entered in the concour spanned about 80 years and
ranged from Bugatti racers to Rolls Royces. There were 3!! Daimler 250s, all
in very nice shape with one that appeared to be an unrestored original. Only
one TR3A and one TR4, which was the only disappointment of the day. Lots of
Jags including 2 "C" types, one of which was an original works car in raw
aluminum showing the scars of past race events. There was a 38 Mercedes
convertible that had such perfect body work and paint that the owner surely
made a pact with the devil, no earthly body-shop is that good. Other marques
in the show that come to mind are: Cunningham, Ferrari, Morgan, Alfa Romeo,
Morgan, Cobra, Masserati, Bazaarini(wild looking), Invicta, Bentley, Packard,
Allard, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, plus many more that I can't remember.
There was also an auction that I watched with fascination for about an hour.
The first car an Allard that need paint went for $16000. A 68, 327 Camaro
4speed in perfect shape went for $8500, what a buy! In all I watched about
10 cars auctioned off, and all seemed to go at nearly bargain prices. There
was a 2+2 "E" Type Automatic, the body and paint was in excellent shape, that
went for $6600.
I met a few other Triumph Owners while at the Amici Triumph booth, where I
spent a good part of the day talking with Joe Alexander. Joe's from Iowa and
made the trip out here to see the races. While I have bought some parts from
him, this was the first time that we had met. He is very much a gentleman
and honest to the core. If you ever buy parts from him, do so with the
utmost confidence that you will get exactly the condition that he represents
to you. He does some vintage racing in his TR4 which was the subject of some
of our conversation. The nicest thing that I have come to appreciate since
starting my TR3A project, is the people that one meets.
Tomorrow I intend to go to the vintage races, hopefully, Mother Nature will
cooperate and hold off the showers to another time.
Gary Bouffard
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