FORT MYERS, Fla. — The City of Fort Myers held its 16th Annual Celtic Festival on January 26th, and for the 16th time asked our club to participate with a British car display.

The Festival is always lots of fun, with several Irish and Scottish musical groups, vendors selling Celtic goods and food, and of course Guinness and Smithwicks.

Last year the club brought 30 cars, but this year the forecast called for possible rain, wind and temperatures in the 50s (much too cold for us Floridians!).

As a result only six cars showed up, brought by Peter and Pam Sales, Glen Vrooman and Bob Frost, John and Angela Sergeant, John Welch, Headley Wilson, and Mary and me. We were treated to some wind, partly cloudy skies, but no rain.

At the end of the day the City awarded trophies to the spectators’ favorites for each decade. The winners were John Sergeant (1959 MGA) in the ’50s and earlier group, Peter Sales (1962 Jaguar MkII) in the ’60s group, Mary Newman (1972 Mini Clubman) in the ’70s group, and John Welch (2007 Jaguar XK) in the ’80s and later group.

This “auto-biography” starts strangely, with my employment in 1952 with the Chrysler Corporation in Highland Park, Michigan.

I was a third year co-op student at the University of Cincinnati in the College of Applied Arts. During my very brief eight-week stint at Chrysler, I was responsible at times to convert photographs of various foreign-built cars to line drawings that easily could be used in printing documents comparing foreign cars to those offered at the time by Chrysler. In 1952, auto manufacturers were starting to fret a wee bit regarding those horrid little cars running around the 48 states. In other words, they thought, rightfully so, they were losing sales to overseas products.

One of the little cars I illustrated was the MG TC. At the time (and at present, too) I thought the TC was a knockout of a car. I even converted my line drawing to a finished piece of art by rendering a full-color version — in red, of course, what else?

Upon returning to classes in late February, I showed my work of art to fellow students, male, of course. One of them told me there was one just like my illustration near the campus. Having never laid eyes on one, I eventually found it and admired it. It looked like new, and it was red over red, just like my artwork.

Boldly I left a note under the wiper arm inquiring whether she might be for sale. To make a long story short, I took delivery of the 1949 MG TC on Saturday evening, April 26, 1952, just a few hundred feet from my church home in Covington, Kentucky. You see, the owner, James Francis, was church organist for a nearby church, and he needed to part with the TC to augment the purchase of an Auburn Boattail Speedster — which ran Jim around 2,600 dead presidents in 1952.

Note: The TC cost me (er, my father) $1,350, a tidy sum in 1952, but interestingly two TC purchases in later years were the same, $1,350, the last being in 1972 — the primrose TC now sitting in my garage in Monroe.

The next morning, Sunday, was exciting. There sitting in our back yard in Ft. Mitchell was the red MG that I had longed for while perched at my drawing board in Michigan. My father agreed to be shuttled off to church in my little beauty and proudly showed her off to other church members after the morning’s service was over.

The service seemed extra-long that day, I guess because I wanted to be back on the streets and byways of Northern Kentucky with my TC. After lunch I hurried on over to a favorite girlfriend’s home next to Lookout Stud Farm in the Crestview Hills area, and off we went on a my first drive. I wish I could remember what the drive was like, but that was 53 years ago.

During the three-plus years I owned the TC, a lot happened to it and me. The engine “wore out” in about 25,000 miles,. It had less than 15,000 on it when I bought in 1952, but I drove her every day, to UC, dates, mini vacations, SCCA rally junkets, gymkhanas — you name it, we were there.

Speaking of dates, a few mothers had mixed thoughts about letting their daughters ride around in “that noisy little thing.” But the true-blue girls loved it, thank goodness for that.

The clutch gave out and a Covington Ford dealer fixed that. My father’s mechanics gave her a valve job. A lady backed into her one day while parked in front of a frat house in Clifton and I resorted to cycle fenders for a repair job whilst blowing the insurance check on a new black Haartz top with windows over the dashboard.

She got a new paint job, blue, and a set of Rudge wheels from one of Ebby Lunken’s Ferraris, complete with tires and all. I affixed a copper straight pipe for exhaust purposes, and later added a cycle muffler on the outside of the body because the car with its 15” Ferrari wheels was just too low to the ground.

My TC was one of about six or so in Greater Cincinnati in those days, all running and some in very original condition, which is the way I should have left mine — not screwing around with funny paint jobs, 15” wheels, weird exhaust treatments, etc. But I was a young college kid with a new and different toy.

I now look back and think about the things I did, both to and with her, but it was great experience and now, some 20 or so British cars later, I wince every time I see something off the beaten path done to a vehicle, whether it’s British or not. Look what the customizers do to vehicles in their charge.

My first MG TC taught me a lot about automobiles, things I’ll never forget. It was a great learning experience, as is every car or truck after that if you’re a do-it-yourselfer like me.

The evening I sold the TC was another nightmare. I took a Ford Model A coupe in trade plus $650 in cash from a UC student, and before the night was over, had to buy him a new battery. He later retrieved the fenders from my parents’ crawl space, and the last time I saw her she was racing at an abandoned airport northeast of St. Louis. She was back to red, the 15” wheels were still on the ground, and the interior looked new after seven years of use. —Larry McCartt

March 3 — BIG (British, Italian and German) Car Show.

March 12 — Regular meeting at Famous Dave’s.

March 16 — BCCSWF Annual Picnic, Franklin Lock Park, Alva, Fla.

March 15-16 — Jaguar Club of Florida event, The Villages, Fla.

April 9 — Regular meeting at Famous Dave’s.

April 20 — Wheels Across the Pond, Jupiter, Fla.

For more information see our website, www.bccswf.com.

December 11, 2018

Our December meeting (the Club Christmas Party) was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by President Bill Newman.

Guests were introduced. Roger Wright and Jerry and Mary Jo Strom joined us for the party.

President Bill thanked all of the officers for their past service. Bill acknowledged all of the past Presidents in attendance.

It was reported that 14 of our members joined members of the Gold Coast British Sports Car Club for dinner at the British Open Pub in Bonita Springs on December 1st.

Upcoming events were discussed:

January 26 — Celtic Festival, Centennial Park, downtown Fort Myers. Contact Bill Newman, mnewman@embarqmail.com.

February 9 — Cars on Fifth, Naples, Fla. Contact Cecil Carter, ccarter@fgcu.edu.

February 16 — Cape Coral Charity Car Show. Contact Mary Newman, mnewman@embarqmail.com.

February 17 — Gold Coast All-British Car Show. Contact Bill Gearheart, billg.wpb@gmail.com.

March 3 — BIG (British, Italian and German) Car Show. Contact: dennis-mckinley@comcast.net.

March 16 — BCCSWF Annual Picnic, Franklin Lock Park, Alva, Fla. Contact Mary Newman, mnewman@embarqmail.com.

Bill congratulated Cecil Carter as incoming President.

Two awards were given out. Tom Brewsaugh received the Outstanding Club Member Award for doing a great job as Treasurer. Ken Taylor was presented a Race Fuel Can from Bill for his racing efforts with as little fuel as possible.

January 8, 2019

The meeting was called to order by President Cecil Carter at 6:30 p.m. There were no new members or guests.

The Secretary, Mary Newman, stated the minutes from the December meeting and Christmas Party will soon be on the website. The Treasurer, Tom Brewsaugh, gave his report. He is busy collecting the yearly dues from members. A motion was made to accept his report. The motion carried.

President Cecil wants to reinstate the Participation Award. Members would receive points for attending events. The points list will be available at the meetings and people can use the sign-in sheet to register their points. Isabel and Cecil will keep the list.

Past events — As reported previously, 14 club members met for dinner at the British Open Pub and were joined by 14 members from the Gold Coast British Sports Car Club. The club celebrated Christmas at the Christmas Party on December 11th. It was well attended.

Upcoming events were discussed:

January 26 — Celtic Festival, Centennial Park, downtown Fort Myers. Contact Bill Newman, mnewman@embarqmail.com.

February 9 — Cars on Fifth, Naples, Fla. Contact Cecil Carter, ccarter@fgcu.edu.

February 16 — Cape Coral Charity Car Show. Contact Mary Newman, mnewman@embarqmail.com.

February 17 — Gold Coast All-British Car Show. Contact Bill Gearheart, billg.wpb@gmail.com.

March 3 — BIG (British, Italian and German) Car Show. Contact: dennis-mckinley@comcast.net.

March 15-16 — Jaguar Club of Florida event, The Villages, Fla.

March 16 — BCCSWF Annual Picnic, Franklin Lock Park, Alva, Fla. Contact Mary Newman, mnewman@embarqmail.com.

April 20 — Wheels Across the Pond, Jupiter, Fla.

Part of enjoying a British classic vehicle is taking a drive and getting together with other enthusiasts. What’s better than combining both by attending shows where over 200 British classics attend, representing virtually every marque.

On Friday evening everyone was welcomed to the local Coastal Cantina Grill & Bar for nibbles, drinks and chat. A new feature was that registered drivers could collect their package there, allowing immediate vehicle placement Saturday morning. Joining us at the Meet & Greet were members Lionel and Jackie Hill, who recently moved to Crawfordville, Fla., in the Florida Panhandle. The good news was they were spared the wrath of Hurricane Michael.

On Saturday, October 27th, the 32nd Annual All-British Field Meet & Autojumble was held in Safety Harbor, well known for being really well organized by the Tampa Bay Austin-Healey Club in a perfect venue. The event supports the Special Olympics charity. It is always a well-attended event, often regarded as the opening of the Florida classic car season.

No exception this year, although only four BCCSWF family groups took on the 300-mile round trip. Club members in attendance were Peter and Pam Sales, Bill and Mary Newman, Steve and Nancy Volk, and Dennis McKinley. The weather for the drive was not perfect, with some rain showers, although on Saturday it recovered, and some clouds around made the day a lot more comfortable than usual.

At 2 p.m. participants gathered at the Main Street bandstand to hear the trophy winners in their class. Three BCCSWF members came away with 1sts and were warmly congratulated by their peers. Another highlight was to learn that a check for over $1,000 was passed to the designated charity as part of the 50/50 drawing.

BCCSWF winners at the All-Brit were:

Jaguar Saloon: 1st, Peter and Pam Sales, 1962 Jaguar MkII.
Minis and Varieties: 1st, Bill and Mary Newman, 1972 Mini Clubman.
Race Prepared: 1st, Dennis McKinley, 1965 Triumph TR4A.

My adventures with British cars began in 1976 when I purchased a yellow 1976 Triumph Spitfire with 20K miles from a British Leyland dealer in Baton Rouge, La. That car was my daily driver for 10 years, and both of my children learned to drive in the Spitfire. I still have that car and it is an important part of the family.

After the Spitfire came a 1972 Jensen-Healey, a Spit 6 of mixed years, a 1972 Triumph GT6, a 1960 Bugeye, a 2003 MINI, a 2005 MINI, a 2016 MINI and a 1972 Mini Clubman. All of these were road cars with some of them on the road more than others.

Of this bunch, the Jensen-Healey was the worst vehicle I have ever owned. It was haunted by the ghost of Lucas and had a tendency to stop just before the highest points of all bridges, which was almost a daily occurrence when we lived near Pensacola.

Motorsports adventures began for me shortly after purchasing the Spitfire. I began autocrossing in the Central Louisiana Region, SCCA, and soon found myself the Regional Executive of that organization. The Spitfire and I were at an autocross event somewhere in Louisiana, Texas or Mississippi almost every weekend. After rebuilding the Spitfire engine several times, I bought a 1964 Spitfire G Production racecar for autocrossing and retired the yellow Spit to the more relaxed life of a road car.

Around this time I met my wife Mary, who had a 1982 Mazda RX7, and one of our first dates was an autocross. In addition to marriage, our thoughts turned to road racing and we both attended the Skip Barber Racing School at Roebling Road in Savannah, Ga. The school cars were Crossle 35F Formula Fords, and even though I was terrible in the open-wheel cars the racing bug had bitten me.

The first racecar was a first-year VW GTI purchased from Tom Benson’s dealership in New Orleans. We put in a rollbar and a fire extinguisher and went racing in SCCA’s Showroom Stock Class.

After a few years, I bought the Chassis #120 Sports Renault, an SCCA Spec Class Sports Racer. The car had a single seat surrounded by a fiberglass body and powered by a 1700cc Renault Alliance engine. I raced this car at Texas World Speedway, Road Atlanta, Nelson Ledges, Ohio, and my home track and old airport course at Lake Charles, La.

By the end of 1986, Mary and I were living in Navarre Beach, Fla., and I had become unhappy with the ever-changing rules in the SCCA Spec Class. At this point, we sold the racecar and got back into boating and other things we enjoyed.

In 1989 we moved again to the Ft. Myers/Cape Coral area in southwest Florida, where I found a job with the County and Mary went to work at Florida Gulf Coast University. We became charter members of the newly formed British Car Club of Southwest Florida in 1993.

We started autocrossing the Spitfire again. The racing bug bit me once more after I attended a track day at Palm Beach International Raceway driving a Factory Five Cobra in 2005. I followed this with a session at the Panoz Racing School at Sebring and purchased another early Spitfire racecar. The decision was to stay away from production car club racing and concentrate on racing with the Vintage group.

I had lots of fun with the little Spitfire, but had the opportunity to buy a 1971 Triumph GT6 racecar in 2009. The inline two-liter, six-cylinder engine had more speed and opened up a new adventure in racing excitement.

Another racecar was purchased in 2012, a 1965 Spitfire Coupe built to replicate the Triumph factory effort at Sebring and Le Mans in 1964 and 1965. That car was really pretty and fun to put on the track. Unfortunately I crashed it at Sebring in 2013 when the right rear tire went flat.

The final race for me in that car was in December 2016 at the Sebring hairpin, when I experienced violent oversteer, causing the car to go airborne, bounce off the roof and land wheels down. I was O.K., but the car was done.

I continued to race the GT6, but began having breathing problems at the beginning of 2018, struggling to finish a race in February. A July race caused similar breathing troubles and I only did two laps. My doctor diagnosed COPD.

A trip to Put-in-Bay, Ohio, was an attempt to see if cooler weather would help my breathing situation. After having lots of fun at the non-competition events, on Tuesday morning, September 25th, I strapped in, put on my helmet and headed to the staging line for the first practice. Once released on the track, I began gasping for air. I made two laps, came in and hung up the helmet for last time.

I sold the GT6 in Ohio to the son of a friend of mine, another Spitfire driver, whom I had driven with in the past. It was not too hard to let the car go because I realized I just couldn’t race anymore.

Yes, I will miss the excitement, but I still have several British cars that will keep me busy — and we bought another boat. —Bill Newman

The meeting was called to order by President Bill Newman at 6:30 p.m.

Bill recognized guests Susan and Tim Coyne from Canada. They drove their MGB GT from Canada to Cape Coral. They said they also had driven their MGA from London, Ontario, to Key West. Quite an adventure!

The Secretary, Mary Newman, stated the minutes are on the website from past meetings. She also gave some details about the Christmas Party, which will be December 11th on the regular meeting night. She will send out an e-mail for club members to RSVP.

The Treasurer, Tom Brewsaugh, gave his report and stated we had two new members and the membership now stands at 90. He also stated dues are due in January and will remain $30.

The Nominating Committee consisting of Bill Newman and Cecil Carter gave a report and stated we have a full slate of officers. They are: President, Cecil Carter Vice President, Ken Taylor Secretary, Mary Newman and Treasurer, Tom Brewsaugh.

Past events

Ken Taylor reported on a race he ran at Sebring on October 13th. He ran his Miata. The vintage group had 30 cars. He said it was a good weekend.

Peter Sales and Bill Newman talked about the Safety Harbor car show put on by the Tampa Bay Austin-Healey Club. Those in attendance included Bill and Mary Newman, Peter and Pam Sales, Dennis McKinley, and Steve and Nancy Volk. There will be an article with pictures in the December Marque. (See accompanying article.)

Upcoming events (as of the meeting date)

November 17 — Luncheon Run to the Hut Restaurant in Buckingham, Fla.

December 1 — Dinner meeting at the British Open Pub in Bonita Springs, Fla., with the Gold Coast British Sports Car Club.

December 11 — Christmas Party at Famous Dave’s.

January 5 — Rally by the Alfa Car Club, starting in Punta Gorda. Check with Dennis McKinley.

January 26 — Celtic Festival, Centennial Park, Ft. Myers, Fla.

February 9 — Cars on Fifth, Naples, Fla.

February 16 — Cape Coral Charity Car Show at Jaycee Park.

February 23 — Car Show at Muscle Car City, Punta Gorda, Fla.

Other club business

Car for sale: 1967 Rover P5 III. Contact Cy Ling, ccling28@gmail.com.

The 50/50 raffle was held.

The meeting then adjourned. —Mary Newman, Secretary