Greetings all,
This weekend my wife and I went to Stowe, Vermont, USA to attend the
British Invasion VI. Went to the show on Saturday only. Weather and
cars were outstanding.
The comment I need to make has to do with the Rover group guys. Now, I
know there are many Rover fans on the Triumph list, so plese bear with
me.
We arrived at the site around 9:30 AM. Everyone was eagerly
anticipating looking at cars, talking with owners, looking a the stuff
for sale, etc. As we were walking from the parking lot, (maybe my 250
will get to go next year!) we see some guys cooking breakfast on the
back of their old Land Rover. I was about to make some comment to my
wife, when we see both guys have bottles of Bud in hand. I guess it
takes a REAL man to eat scrambled eggs and wash 'em down with a Bud, at
9:30 in the morning!
Anyway, we got there early and lots of cars were still arriving, so we
had to walk thru the rows twice. Met lots of great folks, those we
spent time with provided great inspiration for me to keep my project on
track.
One nice thing about shows like this is most everyone mingled and looked
at the _other_ marquees. I even caught myself admiring a gorgeous MGTD,
or was it a TC, I can't tell them apart. I fell in love with an '96
Aston Martin Volante (sp?) but that is another thing.
But those Rover guys. They just keep to themselves and drink lots of
Budweiser. And get rowdy. I even caught a few of them glaring at us as
we walked down their row. But, to add insult to injury, while admiring
a car in the row adjacent to theirs, we overhear a conversation between
a group of them about "those Triumph and MG guys are a bunch of wimps
who spend all their time and money on keeping their rustboxes shiny on
the outside, and falling apart from the inside out."
The bunch of them looked like they belonged in the Austrailian outback,
the only thing missing was a pith helmet. But I am sure in one of those
drab green vehicles a pith helmet could be found. They had consumed
enough Bud by 2 PM to make a Clydesdale proud.
Assessing the situation, our only option was to quietly walk away. No
telling what those clowns were capable of.
So, is this a common occurance at All British shows? The incident was
somewhat annoying, but my wife and I laughed about for hours.
Almost 600 cars were in the show. The parking lot had at least another
75 lbc's that did not particpate. I see why they call the show The
British Invasion. Driving around town had to be the best part. Stowe
is a tiny resort town, so it seemed like every 30 seconds you see a nice
Triumph, Jaguar, Austin Healey, Morgan, Lotus, Rolls, etc. Oh yeah,
MG's too!
I kept my eyes open but only met one participant from the list. Met
Dick Burger from British Parts Connection. Great guy, worth a call when
you need parts. [Hey Dick, this plug must be worth something! ;-) ]
Henry Frye
thefryes@iconn.net
TR250's
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