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Britannia
rules this car show
by
Sharon Hill
The Union
Jacks were flying Saturday as 161 British sports cars and a
dozen motorcycles were put on display at Malden Park.
Dave Doolin,
a Northville, Mich., man who brought his red 1960 MGA to the
show, said the two-seater, open-air sports cars attract a
lot of attention.
"People love
to see them. They're always yelling to you. Beeping to you."
Doolin said
he thinks his MG -- the MG stands for Morris Garages and the
other letters mark the car's series -- can reach 100 mph. It
may have cost about $2,500 when it was built and he
estimates it is worth about $12,000 to $15,000 now.
LIKE
SIMPLICITY
He said most
MG owners like the simplicity of the British design and
their durable nature.
"Most of us
are guys that like to work on engines," he said. "It gets in
your blood."
It wasn't a
great day for the sports cars to sit in the sun. Some owners
worried about the leather in the open-air cars and Doolin
said the MGs don't like the humid heat.
He said they
were built for the British countryside.
Bruce and
Anne Snowdon of Windsor brought their 1959 green MGA to the
show. Anne said people ask her at intersections what kind of
car she's driving.
"It's a wonderful car to drive. It's fun,"
she said. |
The oldest
British car on display Saturday was a 1934 Rover that was
built in Coventry. Owner Doug Horton of Windsor, formerly
from England, said it's one of only two such Rovers he knows
of in North America.
He said it
was called a six-light saloon because it has three windows
on each side.
Horton
brought what had been his brother's car over from England in
2002 and spent more than nine months restoring it.
He said he
gets lots of stares when he drives it.
"Kids like
it. They think it's a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang kind of car."
The British
Marques in the Park, an all British car and motorcycle show,
attracted about 500 people including more than 300 owners,
said Dave Hornby, the chairman of the event's organizing
committee.
The Windsor
Detroit MG Club, which put on the event for the first time
in Windsor, raised $10,000 for the Windsor Regional Hospital
oncology unit, Hornby said.
This article first appeared in The Windsor Star on Monday
June 27, 2005 and is reprinted here with permission of The
Windsor Star.
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