Next Meeting

Old Mexico Cafe On Apalachee Parkway
6:30 P. M., Wednesday,
May 14,  2008

Don't Forget The Picnic at
Wakulla Springs
May 17!

Potentate Prattle About the Recent British Car ClubWinter Park Show By Andre Pozzuoli, Most Exalted High Potentate

          The tale begins with my unbridled enthusiasm to seek out other British Car Club folks and drink fine elixirs till we run out of words, (or the ability to pronounce them) regarding these classic motorcars we love so much. I headed off to the Central Florida British Car Club event in Mead Gardens, down in Winter Park this past weekend to catch up with some old friends from past convention round ups, as well as meet some new folks in British car folklore.

 As I left Tallahassee on Friday afternoon I saddled up my TR6 with all the spare parts I could carry with me as I made the trip without the benefit of any Temple expertise to travel alongside. The previous sentence gives credence to the lady from Miami whose query as to whether I was having my own “private garage sale” behind my parked car once at the event. I left town at 5pm with cloudy skies overhead and a steady wind from the west. I chose to drive HWY 27 from Tallahassee towards Ocala which turns out is a fantastic route if you’re looking to see some nice country and avoid the interstates as much as possible. The drive itself was pretty uneventful until I arrived in Ocala which is where the skies opened up and rain was the enemy for the rest of the evening. Although the trip from Ocala to Winter Park is only about an hour the whipping rain after dark was truly getting old quickly, I soon came to remember the “push & pull” effect of passing 18 wheelers that can really be hazardous in these small cars. With a few more grey hairs and a splitting headache upon arrival I soon found my way to the sponsoring hotel waterhole to ease the pain.

  Upon approach to the hotel bar I could hear what sounded like an obvious karaoke sing a long going on, only to open the door and see a single piano player baring a striking resemblance to Austin Powers (coincidence?) singing his version of Billy Joel’s “piano man”. My headache soon gave way to a bellyache as the laughter was truly the medicine I was in need of. A couple of scotch’s later I was back to normal and enjoyed meeting some other early arrivals to the event. With a good night of sleep I’ll be ready stroll through car club heaven in the morning.

   After a good breakfast at the hotel I ventured off to Mead Gardens at about 9am, the skies were clear blue again and it looked like we would have a nice day after all. It turns out there must have been perhaps 150 cars in attendance for the event which featured marquees such as: Triumph, MG, Austin Healy, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Morgan, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lotus, Mini, & Daimler which makes claim to be Britain’s oldest Marquee’. One of the very first Daimler’s made was an 1897 4hp tube ignition twin cylinder right there in good old Coventry, pictured below.

    There weren’t any 1897’s at the show however there were two Daimler SP250’s, unofficially known as the Dart, pictured here.

Both cars were spectacular and represented true British styling and Coventry grit, by far my favorite car to view as I’ve never seen one in person before. I could have stayed with this car for hours but there was a lot to see.

   All in all I counted about 30 Triumphs in attendance, 13 TR6’s, a few Spitfires, one GT6, three TR8’s a handful of TR3’s, 3A’s, 4’s, a 250, an Italia, and one very elegant 1947 Triumph Roadster. Our club’s marquee was well represented.

   I made my way across each row of history taking in the beauty that represents England’s contribution to automotive history. I’d be talking for hours if I went through every marquee, but I’ll say that it’s obvious each participate did a great job of restoring & presenting their cars for this truly spectacular show. If you’re a fan of anything British you should try to make it to this event sometime. I offer my congratulations to all the fine folks that put on this great event at the Central Florida British Car Club, they’ve been doing it for many years and they do it well.  

   In attendance for this event were many of the local clubs right there in Orlando, a good group of folks from Tampa / St. Pete, as well as many from St. Augustine / Daytona. It turns out that Dean & I actually won a prize for the car that came the farthest distance (that’s driven, the Queen’s didn’t count), I clocked in at 265 miles.

  After several hours of viewing great cars and talking with all their owners we had to move up the awards presentation an hour because the weather was starting to turn sour again. About 3pm I collected all my baggage and headed for the highway back to Tallahassee.

  As luck would have it the rain was relentless driving up the turnpike & 75 until I got to Ocala again. I left the scotch behind but made sure I took a bottle of Advil with me because it was a long and tedious drive home. I’m happy to report that my 6 held out all that rain as there were no leaks to be found, no electrical shorts, and no flat tires. I arrived back in town at about 8:30, 5 hours later. I’m  looking forward to our next road trip, good motoring.