BTW, the Dodge Colt?  It has a Mopar 440 crammed into, with full roll cage…

Well, woke up early this AM to thunderstorms and a check of the weather radar revealed a second line of storms working its way towards St Louis. Sure ’nuff, got the email from Racer Steve that what with the weather circumstances, the day’s autocross was cancelled. Ah well…that just meant more quality time with the bride, who’s spent a lot of time on the road lately, work-related. If it clears up later today I’ll probably get the HSD out for a rort.

And, last Friday night yours truly had the only Brit car at the Sonic cruise in Kirkwood. Great gathering as always, with plenty of entertaining vehicles, enjoyed the discussions with several people including the English gentleman and his wife who literally stumbled on the event and were quite impressed. He asked if there was an entry fee (no) or year cut-off for cars (no).

“Well, in that case, next Friday night we must bring our Jag-u-er.”

“Yes sir, absolutely, see you then!”

How’s this?  Two blue Spits with a blue Miata and Greg in (of course) blue…

Pretty much perfect weather this AM for Cars & Coffee, about 260 cars on hand including a good contingent from SLTOA: two of the club’s three blue spits (Greg and Bob), Chairman of the Board Dave’s TR3, the TR6s of Stephen and Andy, Prez Jesse’s TR7 and yr fthfl ed’s TR8.

The gathering remains highly popular, with a very wide range of vehicles and owners participating. Today’s truly unique vehicle was probably the ’46 Cadillac sedan…

Again, if you haven’t participated in Cars & Coffee, by all means give it a try. The next one’s scheduled for Saturday, 15 August.

Made the run to the Big Bend/Kirkwood Sonic again tonight and again, a good turnout with a lot of really nice cars.  This week yours truly carried the flag for the LBCs but it was still fun and the gathering even saw an Italian contingent in the form of a Ferrari Mondial convertible.

On the way home, a Corvette driver did a thumbs up as he passed me and the HSD.

Good night all around…

No, the owner’s name was not Max Rockatansky

Seen at the Sonic Cruise earlier this evening.   A bunch of us watched him pull in and attempted to identify the various cars which, er, contributed to the project; best we could tell, he started with a ’57 Ford and added the grill and surrounds from a ’58 Edsel; headlights from a ’65 or thereabouts Buick Riviera; and the hardtop from a 58-60 Ford Thunderbird.

Anyone else out there want to take a guess?

I tell you, the-every-Friday night car cruise at the Big Bend & Kirkwood Sonic – organized by the Outsiders Car Club – is a royal hoot.  Not a big group, perhaps 40-50, cars but quite an eclectic collection with a lot of friendly people.

Three of us carried the LBC flag tonight (four if you count the Nash Metropolitan which showed up, designed and built by Austin): YFE in the TR8, Prez Jesse in his TR7 and an unnamed couple in a really nice steel-bumper MGB convertible with a Ford 302 and 5sp stuffed into it.  Regrettably, we didn’t get their names but Jesse and I made sure they knew about the various club activities hereabouts, to include an invite to the annual SweatFest on the 21st.  Oh, and being the calm, cool, friendly, non-confrontational sort that I am, I introduced myself to the couple thusly: “Are you in the MG club?” “Uh, no.” “Well, why NOT!?”

Folks, this is a truly fun gathering, I strongly recommend y’all get your British car over there some Friday evening.  Me, I fully intend to show up at least twice a month.

Okay, first autocross in well over a year and I’ll be the first to admit, my reflexes aren’t what they were 44 years when I first started running events like this in Tucson, AZ BUT, I can say this: I did NOT have the oldest car there (that was Dave’s ’71 TR6) and I was NOT the slowest!

Helluva day.  Y’all need to get out there with whichever car you prefer and give this a try some time.  Next event is Sunday 26 July, at Family Arena, St Charles.

Here comes Dan…that’s a McLaren on his six.

Did the post-maintenance check flight with the TR8 Friday night following our last session and hoo-hah, the car ran good (well, it is a TR8, so it tends to buck and snort and make loud obnoxious noises). Even made a point of stopping at my favorite mini-mart/gas station up on Manchester to show the car off, at which point one of the employees came out and announced, “You can’t park that thing there!”

As for Saturday 27 June, I had planned to take the HSD to the Jaguar drive/Vets Home visit, followed by Gateway Motorsports Park for the track day festivities, but when I fire up the car the clutch wouldn’t engage. Fired off an email to a couple of the SLTOA members to ID the type of fluid that needed to go in the reservoir, jumped in the photo vehicle and off I went. Truly fine morning with the Jaguar Association of Greater St Louis, followed by lunch (I can now say I’ve been to the legendary Fast Eddie’s Bon Air) and particularly enjoyed the afternoon, watching SLTOA member Dan Guenther throw his BMW around the track at GMP.

Finished the weekend with a replenished clutch reservoir (filled with proper fluid, natch) and a good running TR8. Now to a) resume autocrossing and b) start doing some drives and shows as a participant and not just a photographer.