[NOBBC] Morgan Hill car show

[Don]

>https://picasaweb.google.com/104973305347633073496/October162011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzp2qnx5IGe9QE
>
>Big car adventure for me on Sunday!  Thanks to email and the MG 
>Experience website, I was able to connect with fellow MG enthusiast 
>Jim Legg of Napa and catch a ride to the Autumn Classic Car Show in 
>his 1970 MGB GT.  We left Napa at 8 a.m., and arrived in Morgan Hill 
>at 10 a.m. for the car show.
>
>The weather was ideal without the rain that ruined the show last 
>year, resulting in an exceptional array of British sports cars for 
>the day's event.  I don't think I have ever seen so many high-end 
>restorations of old British sports cars assembled in one place, 
>ever.  But there were many less expensive, driver quality cars there 
>too.  The cars were displayed along Monterey Avenue which had been 
>closed for the event.
>
>First thing that caught my attention when we began looking at the 
>many cars assembled in the historic downtown was the red '64 MGB 
>body displayed by Bill Hiland of On the Road Again Classics.  His 
>restoration shop is located in Morgan Hill.  The workmanship on the 
>MGB body appeared impeccable in its new tartan red paint, and being 
>a body sans anything else, it was a stark contrast to all the cars 
>that were complete and running.  I asked Bill what it would cost to 
>get an early MGB done properly, and he said about $35,000.  As 
>expensive as this sounds, I can understand with all the detail and 
>handwork involved.  In fact, that sounds like a bargain!
>
>Next car that seemed to stand out from the rest was a white and 
>black 1956 Austin Healey 100M.  My comment to Jim was that the 
>letter M on the Healey probably doubles its value.  The car's owner, 
>John Batterton, laughed and stated that was indeed the case.  He 
>said that his car had been battered and been through some strange 
>ownership history before he adopted it, and with painstaking work he 
>had made it into an absolute beauty.  He told us that there are only 
>200 100Ms left of the 640 that were made.  He estimated that his car 
>was worth $140,000.  I could see no defects in it  John posed next 
>to the car for a photo.
>
>The black XK150 S Jaguar was concourse quality, but the owner was 
>nowhere to be seen.  I don't know Jags that well, but I think this 
>is another example of an added letter to the name that doubles the 
>value of the car.
>
>I counted five Sunbeam Tigers, and one Alpine.  One of the Tigers, a 
>blue '65, was spectacular, and I made an offer on the spot  . . . to 
>photograph it.  Robert Petrokas, the proud owner, was kind enough to 
>pose next to it for a photo.  I love these cars, and this one was 
>unusually well restored..  He said it has been a concours winner, 
>and it looks it.
>
>A car that was ususual for its originality and unashamedly showing 
>its years, was an early MGA.  A 1956 red roadster, it still had its 
>original leather seats.  The tires were Firestone whitewalls that 
>looked like they could have been with the car since 1956.  The owner 
>said that the car had been stored in a garage for many years, and 
>that he had brought it back to life.  This car was really a time 
>capsule and was unusual among the other cars that have had so much 
>restoration work done on them.  His daughter drives the car, and she 
>seemed to love the car.  Rarely do you see this hobby being passed 
>down to a daughter, and not all that often to a son.
>
>I counted seven MGTFs.  All of them were immaculate and each car 
>would win an award if I was giving prizes.  I am partial to TFs, as 
>I own one.  So few were made it is hard to believe that so many 
>survive in this region.  Not many MGAs were there, but the number of 
>MGBs was high.  But I spotted only one early MGB, an iris blue 
>roadster.  Survival rate of the Mk 1 MGBs must be low in North 
>America as I see so few at any car shows given that they were once 
>abundant here.
> 
>
>A car that I have seen and appreciated at more than one show was the 
>1975 Midget owned by Craig Kuenzinger.  Craig said that it is a 98 
>point restoration; his assertion was supported by the beauty of his 
>car which looked like it just drove out of a dealer showroom back in 
>1975.  He explained that he had done a lot of painstaking work to 
>make it this way as there are many parts that are no longer 
>available since these cars don't have the following of many of the 
>other British sports cars.  I jokingly commented that the radio in 
>the Midget was a Sony, and that if I was a judging the car, I would 
>subtract another point for this glaring defect.  Craig explained 
>that a Leyland radio was nearly impossible to find.  Jim Legg came 
>to his rescue and told Craig that he had one of the radios at home 
>in his parts cache.  Craig was elated to find such a part for his 
>car.  Oddly enough, it was in the course of buying a BMC type radio 
>for an early MGB that I met Jim several years ago.
>
>I caught a photo of a BRG 1967 Austin Healey 3000 as it was leaving 
>the show.  The couple in the car were both smiling and Roger Hawk 
>said that his wife, Donna, had bought the car new in 1967.
>
>At most of the British car shows there are several TR8s and rarely 
>any TR7s.  This time was the opposite, as there was only one TR8, 
>and two TR7s.  The wedge-shaped cars look identical, but the source 
>of power is not the same.  The TR8, sadly, was British Leyland's 
>swan song.  I am partial to these little hot rod V8s, having owned a 
>couple "poor man's Tigers" in my past.
>
>I got some photos that were not of cars.  One is of a lady wearing a 
>very unusual outfit leading her little dog who is also in strange 
>attire.  The two security police were kind enough to smile for a 
>photo.  The fellow walking what looked to be a rather exotic bicycle 
>told me that it was a $7,000 bike.  Dave Laughlin and his British 
>car parts business made an interesting photo.  By chance, Jim and I 
>met up with Rick Anderson of Napa who owns a couple of MGs, but was 
>there in a Honda.  He and his friend Mignon joined us for 
>lunch.  The marquee at the theater proclaimed "Support Our Seniors" 
>which I thought was appropriate given the age of most of us at this event.
>
>There were a few other cars that I liked, and photographed.  One was 
>the '70 Triumph GT6 of John Leggett, which looked like it was a 
>brand new car.  And the Mini Cooper S of Chris Miller who claimed 
>that its engine was producing 120 horsepower.  Two of the Bugeye 
>Sprites were powered by Japanese DOHC engines; they must be like 
>little rockets given the light weight of a Bugeye.  The red '72 RHD 
>Ginetta was a beauty, and had been updated with a newer Ford OHC 
>engine.  Jim thought the Arnolt MG was the rarest car there.  I 
>thought the two Nash Healeys were the rarest.
>
>Later in the day on my way home, I stopped at Peets Coffee in 
>Napa.  Parked in front of the store was a red Aston Martin 
>convertible of the late 1950s that was drop dead gorgeous.  Everyone 
>that walked by that car stopped and admired it.  I was able to catch 
>a photo as it was leaving, and I told the two fellows in the car 
>that there had been a big British car show in Morgan Hill and had 
>they taken the car, it would surely have won a prize.  In the latest 
>copy of Sports Car Market magazine there is a short feature on these 
>cars.  These Aston Martins cost $3,650 new, but their value now is 
>between $275,000 and $450,000 according to the article.
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