The 16th annual NAMGAR national meet was held here in Huntsville,
Ala. on July 18-21 (NAMGAR is the North American MGA Register). Host
club for the meet was the Alabama A's. Many members of the local
North Alabama British Motoring Society were on hand to help out,
directing traffic, helping with registrations, etc. The concours
part of the meet was held Saturday morning from 10-12. This is the
only event I attended. I'll give a description here of what I saw.
Perhaps someone else who was there can give a more detailed
description of the other events.
There were 71 MGAs and derivatives at the concours, conditions
ranging from tatty to perfectly restored. Weather was sunny, humid,
and brutally hot (about 95F). Just your typical July day in Alabama.
I'm the first to admit that I don't know much about MGAs, so I
probably didn't fully appreciate what I saw. There were cars from
every class of MGA: 1500, 1600, Deluxe, and Twin Cam. The only
derivative that I saw was a Magnette. This was the first time I had
ever seen a Magnette to know it, so I spent more time looking at this
car than any of the others. As the title of this message states, by
the time I walked around a few times, the ol' eyeballs were on MGA
overload. Coupled with the heat, it's a wonder I remember any
details.
The long distance award went to a man from New Jersey, who drove
his car to Alabama. I also found out later that a local man won first
place in the 1500 class. This man, a NABMS member whose name escapes
me, had just finished an 8-year restoration, just in time for this
event.
The Memphis British Car club was on hand with the white 72? TR6
they are raffling at their October show. Tickets were $1 each or 6
for $5, with the proceeds going to charity. I bought 6 :-)
A few mad dog vendors braved the heat and set up their booths for
the swap meet. There were a few shady spots on the grounds, and these
areas were crowded with tables. Lots of MG paraphernalia. The owner
of Moss, Howard somebody, was there, but Moss didn't have a booth.
As with any British car meet, there were other British cars there
which were not part of the show. There were about a dozen of these
tag-alongs at this meet. For sale were an MGB (no price listed), a
beautiful TR3 ($11,000!!!!), and a TR4 for $7000. Also present were a
couple of Bugeye Sprites, a couple of Midgets, another B, and a
Westfield 11.
After wandering around in the heat looking at cars for about 90
minutes, it was time to cool off. It was after 11:30 and the display
ended at 12:00, so I hopped into the pickup, set the A/C on full, and
headed home, completely MGA sated.
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T.J. Higgins 205-730-7922 | higgins@ingr.com (Internet)
Mapping Sciences Division | uunet!ingr!higgins (uucp)
Intergraph Corp. M/S IW17A4 Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.A. 35894-0001
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