Many SOL regulars are aware of The Roadster Factory, but I still get
many questions and inquiries about The Coventry Inn. For those of you that
don't know, The Coventry Inn is the authentic post and beam construction pub
and restaurant that Charles Runyan is currently constructing in Indiana,
Pennsylvania. This has been a major project for Charles and has been a long
haul not only with repect to time but more importantly money (or the lack of
it). I thought that the following might be of interest to everyone on the
list who has a love and respect for British sports cars and their roots.
This is an excerpt of an article included in the current TRF 1995 Winter
Parts Sale Handbook. If this tidbit whets your appetite and you'd like more
detailed and descriptive information about The Coventry Inn, email me and
I'll send you a very well put together publication with lots of pictures and
many more details. Happy reading!
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DETAILS ON THE COVENTRY MOTORING AND AVIATION SOCIETY FINALLY
AVAILABLE...
According to a legend invented by Charles Runyan, proprietor of
The Roadster Factory, The Coventry Motoring and Aviation Society
was founded in 1935 in Warwickshire, and its members raced
pre-war MG's, Morgans, Jaguars, and Triumph Dolomites around the
country lanes of Warwickshire and surrounding counties. Some
members were also involved in flying, and as the war approached
the membership roster included active R.A.F. Spitfire and
Hurricane pilots.
The Coventry Motoring and Aviation Society met weekly in those
days at The Covenry Inn, an old pub which was located in
Bidford-on-Avon, where The Roadster Factory now operates an
English warehouse. The Coventry Inn was destroyed by a stray
German bomb during the heavy attack on Coventry on April 8th,
1941, and nothing remained but a few beams and some fragments of
the hanging sign which turned up in a barn in Bidford in 1986
when it was being torn down to make way for a new industrial
estate.
Neither The Coventry Inn nor The Society were revived after the
war, as members turned their hands to rebuilding their homeland
and its industries, including the companies which produced the
British sports cars that we know and love, but The Roadster
Factory is recreating both in Western Pennsylvania in the 1990's.
The Coventry Inn is an authentic English Tudor inn built in
Indiana, Pennsylvania over the past five years. It is built of
three-hundred tons of oak beams, all hand pegged, and it includes
leaded windows and three woodburning fireplaces. The first floor
will be tiled with specially-designed British car floor tiles,
and the upper storeys will be planked with wide oak boards. The
decor will include lots of leather chairs, oak furniture, and
oriental carpets. The British car theme will figure heavily in
the first-floor pub and lounge and in the third floor club room.
Charles Runyan wants The Coventry Inn to become the unofficial
headquarters of the British car hobby in North America.
Charles Runyan has invested about $1-million in building The
Coventry Inn, but the project has progressed only very slowly
since the BIG recession peaked in 1992. The Roadster Factory is
currently unable to spare funds for The Coventry Inn, as it has
its own growth and development to think of, and banks are
unwilling to loan money to finish building a British car pub,
although many local people have already purchased memberships to
help get the inn open by spring 1995.
Charles Runyan is reviving The Coventry Motoring and Aviation
Society in order to help raise money to finish building The
Coventry Inn. All proceeds from memberships will go toward
equipment, furniture, and final construction work at the inn.
Members will have the satisfaction of having helped to finish the
project and belonging to a national club with the most authentic
British car club headquarters anywhere. In addition, they will
have membership privileges that repay, several times over, the
cost of membership.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP
Cost is $50.00 and you receive a great T-shirt which features the
club badge in large size on a heavy white cotton T-shirt. You
also receive a windscreen decal and one free pub lunch if you are
able to come to visit The Coventry Inn. There will also be some
TRF special prices and rare parts offered only to club members.
Cost of membership is for life.
CHARTER MEMBERSHIP
Cost is $125.00, and you receive a club T-shirt as described
above plus a beautiful car club badge made in England with five
colours of hand fired enamel. In addition, you are eligible for
one free pub lunch or one limited-edition T-shirt every year for
ten years. A brass plate with your name and club member number
will be screwed to a beam of The Coventry Inn to provide a
permanent record of your membership and your role in financing
the inn construction. There will also be some TRF special prices
and rare parts offered only to club members. The cost of a
Charter Membership is for life, and they will be available only
until the inn opens in Spring 1995.
OTHER BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP
Other benefits include a membership card and special events at
each year's TRF Summer Party. The Coventry Motoring and Aviation
Society will be the official host club of The Roadster Factory
Summer Party each year, and other than that, it will be strictly
a social organization with no plans to replace any other British
car club. The main purpose of the club is to finish building The
Coventry Inn in order to provide a suitable headquarters for the
British car hobby in North America and to provide its members
with the fun of belonging to a special group which has its own
badges and T-shirts. It will give members another real club
badge to mount on their grilles or badge bars.
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