[Spridgets] The BusterCluster

[Robert Bruce Evans]

David...

Last year a bunch of guys flew and/or drove to Anaheim, CA to help a Spridget lister put his Bugeye together. They started with a bare, but painted, body with not one other piece on it and completely built the car and had it running down the street in 3 days. The owner had run into health problems and could not reassemble the car, so a bunch got together from as far away as New Jersey and New York and built it for him. He had bought the car brand new and he and his wife had their first date in it. So, you can see, it just had to be completed for them. That little adventure was done for a lister who goes by the name of Buster and it was called the BusterCluster.

Larry could barely scratch the surface of the BusterCluster, but as the beneficiary of it all, I would like to give  you the full flavor of what went on, and at the same time salute the "Magnificent 23" that an international magazine has now dubbed "The A-Team".  The summary below, and perhaps a few links will guide you through this truly mystical, magical three days that I believe marked  highpoint in the camaraderie of Sprites and Midgets, if not all sports cars, and which is being chronicled in the October issue of Practical Classics.  (Many Americans are unaware of this English magazine devoted to the preservation and use our classic English cars such as ours, and sold in this country by Barnes and Noble, Borders, and many large news and magazine agents.)

Perhaps you can post it to the MG List so they might go even further for someone in their midst.

Buster Evans
BusterCluster 2006
When as a young sailor, I bought my Sprite from the new car import dealer in Memphis, little did I know that it would be with me for some 46 years.  That Sprite changed my life, allowing me to make friends with the civilian world in Memphis;  friends that remain close to this day.  While still in the Navy, I rallied it, auto-crossed it, and gymkhana'd it, while also driving it to my Southern California home on Christmas leave.  When I was discharged in 1963, I took my $300 and a Texaco credit card to drive some 4,000 miles around America before settling down.  After carrying me to university, then serving as a "family car", the Sprite was in poor repair.
Several years ago, I fully intended on restoring it, and had stripped it down completely before back surgery left me unable stand very long, or to even bend over to pick up something from the floor.  Every time I looked at the poor Sprite, I was filled with guilt.  Although I could not drive it, I have been active in Internet Sprite/Midget groups.

Everything began to change when Ron Soave came out from Illinois on business in December 2005.  When he saw the pitiful state my Sprite was in, he told me, "Oh, this is a perfect OSHIT project!"  Pardon me?  He explained that OSHIT is the Organization of Sprite Handimen In Transit, and that it was a very loose knit group of Sprite/Midget owners, mainly in the American Midwest and East Coast, who would get together periodically to work on the cars, and on a few occasions had taken on a major project to help someone out.  ( http://www.valentinephoto.net/oshit/index.html )

Ron then began to spread the word among America's Sprite/Midget owners, while I arranged to have the car painted and then went over to England to buy the necessary parts (I have long advocated that people buy their parts in England where they are less expensive and of a far superior quality.)  For several months, people on the Internet were making plans.  One who enjoys making beer is brewed up two kegs of Porter for the event.  Another who is a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Service had been making up weather forecasts.  Some were busy getting a live Web camera and Internet chat room for the two days.  BusterCluster coffee cups and t-shirts designed and provided to those who did so much.
When the day came, 23 people had shown up from California, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, and Connecticut!  All of them paid their own way, paid for their own hotels, and only eight stayed with us.
The extended weekend of July 27 was a non-stop dream for Pam and myself. We had brought in lots of foot, but still had to go out for more pizza and Subs!  Pam did an incredibly fantastic job of fixing breakfasts, getting the lunches and dinner food laid out and ready for everyone to dig in.  On the liquid side, we went through 179 bottles of beer, two kegs of brew brought down the brewmeister, two cases of water, and 174 Pepsis/Cokes/7-Up, and about two dozen big bags of ice.

It was amazing the thousands upon thousands of miles that people flew and drove from all over the United States  to join us:   It is hard to think that most of the people who came here had never met most, if any, of the others.  Certainly, I had never met anyone before Ron came out in December and came up with the BusterCluster idea!  Even after that, I had only met one other for the first time when Pam and I went back to Illinois for some races in June.  All of the rest of these friends I had never met face to face until the event! 
That, if nothing else, has brought a wonderful smile to our faces!
On the Internet
http://www.bustercluster2006.org/
http://bustercluster.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1klEzra24
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bustercluster2006/album?.dir=184cscd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bustercluster2006/my_photos