This Sunday was the annual UBSCC all British car show in Dixon, CA. There
were only three bugeyes and one squarebody this year. One bugeye was in the
Winner's circle from its win last year. There were about 6 Morris Minors,
including one that had last been owned and restored by Harry Whittington. The
same guy recently shot by Dick Cheney. The new owner had a posted news
article on his car's story board asking the headline question "Does Dick
Cheney Target Morris Minor Owners?" A dummy in the back seat was masked to
look like the VP in hunting clothes.
The Healey Silverstone was there again, along with about 6 Jag E-types, a
couple of Jag MkIIs, two old Minis and 6 or 7 new MINIs. The usual
overabundance of the various Triumph models were present along with a long
line of big Healeys. A Lotus Elise drew a lot of attention and saliva, as did
the factory racing Cortina which looked nasty fast.
Little "Austin Powerless" the A35 was grouped in "British Speciality" (the
non-pre-registered cars with too few to make a class, what Arlo Guthrie would
call the"Group W" bench). Luckily, my wax was the thickest, and coupled with
the female pleasing "aawwww....cute!" factor, Austin got first place and will
watch next year's show from the Winner's circle.
During the show I saw some guy open Austin's door and I went over to see who
had the stones to touch somebody else's car. It was Gary Anderson, ex of
British Car mag and late of Classic Motorsports. He didn't have much nice to
say about the current Classic Motorsports crew and direction. He was dropping
an invitation to the Palo Alto Concourse de Elegance on Austin's seat. No
freaking way sez I, but wait, sez he. They are featuring the cheap-a$$
British cars that restarted England's economy after the war, though he
tastefully used the word "inexpensive". As one of the only A35s he had even
seen at a show, he said to bring it on down. Cool! So I might just take it
to Palo Alto, act the rube, and get my share of shunning by guys with REALLY
big checkbooks. Sound like fun?
Glen Byrns
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