The last ride of the season was always from Manchester NH to Westminster
Vermont. Route 101 between those two towns hasn't been ruined like 101
between Manchester and Hampton Beach... The road rises and falls with the
mountains. Tight two lane tree covered roads open up into vistas of the New
Hampshire Mountains. The ride was always in October... The air at 7am was
crisp and wet as we buzzed through Peterborough and Dublin NH past the giant
stone arch bridge, or the multicolored autumn mountains. Our destination was
always the same: The Westminster MG Museum Fall Fraternity Tour Car Show.
On the damp lawns of the Museum, freshly mowed, hundreds of Ts A's B's TR's
and AH's. The local Rotary Club is selling coffee, apple pie with cheddar (a
Vermont thing, don't ask!) and grilling hamburgers by 10am. The Jazz band
strikes up and plays as we go into that barn...
Above in the rafters, an MGB Billboard of a green convertible superimposed
over a sepia toned MG TC driver. Before you, more of every make and model of
MG probably ever gathered outside the UK. Massive MG touring cars, with
swiveling vents in the bonnet sides, like the SA. Rare Custom MGs, like an
Arnolt Coupe,and a Lester MG. MG M-type and J-type midgets... hillclimb
specials... a PB Airline Coupe. Vintage Sales signs. Dozens of MGs, the
rarest of the rare, squeezed into this little barn, and just dusted off for
this day.
I wish I had gone last year.
-John
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