The 2002 Palo Alto British Car Meet Report After a year off due to road and park repairs, the Palo Alto meet came back on track on a new lawn and few glitches. Anticipation was high and people were really happy to come back El Camino Park again this year.
Saturday, Sept. 7 was the "Tour To The Sea" with over 80 cars leaving the car park in Palo Alto in groups of six, arranged by size and horsepower to rendezvous at Cameron's Pub in Half Moon Bay. A number of club people from the Santa Cruz area drove north on the coast highway and the Jensen Club set up their own rally amongst the same roads in the same hills as the official tour. There were so many British cars on the road that it could have been England! By noon almost 120 cars filled Cameron's car park, and the side street, and the highway shoulder. Participants came from as far as Los Angeles and Carson City Nevada. Sunday, Sept. 8 The Big Show. Over 550 cars came from all over California as well as some from Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. More than ever came on trailers. There was a recently restored, red Healey Silverstone that really caught my eye, as did Del Boscacci's little faded blue A.C. Ace, as original as it left the factory . Somebody brought an early 1950s Rolls that had been stretched between the doors like they do today but looked to be a very long standard car in black with huge white sidewall tyres. Someone whispered that it didn't have a proper engine. The Jags were amazing and more Morris Minors than we'd seen in a long time. Participant gifts were large 15oz coffee mugs and dash plaques with this year's Union Jack-behind-the Postal-van logo. There seemed to be one of about everything there from a minute Peel mini-car made on the Isle Of Man to a blue painted, restored London Bus used as a promotional vehicle for a San Jose bicycle shop. One jolly fellow brought a 472 cube Cobra both days terrorizing the tourers on Saturday and aweing the audience on Sunday. A number of British bikes were parked at the corners of the car park. Held in tandem with this all-marque British Meet was the West Coast American MGB Association Convention which brought out over 100 Bs and Midgets and the first time inclusion of the Arcane Auto Society. The Arcane folks brought some amazing iron (or in some cases fiberglass). The above mentioned Peel won the people's choice award but it was a tough choice with contenders like Citroen 2CVs (one a German-made roadster conversion), Isetta front-loaders, a DKW, and an Austin or two. Along with the good showing, they signed up a number of orphan British saloons that have no local clubs. A great day was had by all. The AMGBA gave their additional MG and Midget awards earlier in the afternoon,followed by the Palo Alto, People's Choice Awards. Winners included: Best Prewar; Peter Lundquist's '27 Austin Chummy - Best Saloon; Burt Pershol's 1956 Rover 60 - Best Sports Car; 8-year-old Brandon O'connor's MG-TD bodied go-kart - Best Commercial; Chein Lieu's just restored 1954 Land Rover- Best Daily Driver; Keith & Pam Shuckart's 1964 Land Rover, Club Participation, The Bay Area Lotus Club. WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF YOU WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS YEAR'S EVENT - WE PLAN TO BE BACK NEXT YEAR BETTER THAN EVER - WE THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT AND FOR ALL OF THE KIND WORDS ON THE DAY OF THE MEET - I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF THE ENTHUSIASTS THAT HELPED PARK THE CARS AND SCORE THE BALLOTS - SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR! ---------------------------------------------------- Max Heim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: I posted a few snaps from the Palo Alto British Car Meet at the above URL. I am afraid I didn't make any effort to document the whole scene. I just shot a few of the more unusual things that caught my eye. Enjoy: <http://home.attbi.com/~mvheim/pa-bcm/> /// [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list /// Send admin requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive /// Send list postings to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// Edit your replies! If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.
