Had to go out of town for a funeral this past weekend and therefore missed multiple local car events.   The previous Sunday, though – 21 August – I had the great fortune to do the “sprint and drift” thing, along with Ace Exhaust Notes staff photographer John Moore.

The event was SLTOA’s dinner drive to the Alte Dreamland Palace German restaurant west of Waterloo.  Absolutely perfect day for a drive with a fine turnout, including multiple Triumphs, a few Brand Xs and nearly 30 people.  The drive started from the “Red Roof Shell” on the north side of Columbia, went over a mix of flatland and twisting roads and from all reports, everyone had a great time.

No drive scheduled for September as the annual BIG event – the All British Car & Cycle Show – takes place on the 24th.  Mark your calendars and if you’ve never attended an ABCCS, make a point of coming out, I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

Seen earlier today in the lot of the Commissary/BX at Scott AFB, when it first drove by I thought it was a Daewoo.  But no, it’s an exceedingly rare Dale Earnhardt Memorial Edition Infiniti M35x.

Truly unique luxury car, eh?

Seen in the Trader Joe’s parking lot, on Manchester, Sunday 21 August.

Now here’s something different, something rarely seen: a circa 1974-1977 Mercury Capri, observed at Jefferson Barracks last Friday.

And yes, it is an LBC, or more accurately an LGC: German Ford, produced in Cologne, with some English Ford parts IIRC.  Regularly called the “European Mustang” (Mercury’s advertising referred to them as “The first sexy European under $2400”) the cars were sold by Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1970 to 1977.  And, like a lot of 1970s vehicles, rustproofing was apparently something of an afterthought, so you don’t see many running these days.

This one’s the upscale Ghia version and yes, it would constitute a major project if someone was so inclined.  However, if it has the 2.8L V6 and a manual trans, it’d probably be worth the effort; they had a reputation as fun to drive and I can guarantee you wouldn’t pass too many others on our roads.

End of the July, two autocrosses in two days: on Saturday, the Boeing Sports Car Club event at Family Arena, followed by the SCCA at Gateway on Sunday.   At both, the usual assortment of highly entertaining cars, such as a startlingly fast (and loud, natch) ’68ish Chevy Malibu.  Wild…

SLTOA’s Slow Roller Racing Team continues to put 5-7 cars in each autocross, roughly split between those who make periodic appearances and those who are running the entire season.  When will the HSD return to the track, er, parking lot?  Stay tuned, but in the meantime, I’ll run the Kia again next month.

Unless I run across something completely off the wall, like an AMC Pacer or sports-racing Yugo.  Hey, you never know!

A tad late on the posting of the photos, but July’s C&C constituted another outstanding gathering of roughly 300 cars, with perfect weather to boot (okay, okay, so it was somewhat hot and humid).   More than a few head-turners showed up, including the ’39 Mercury (upper left) from FastLane.   The Lancia Fulvia was another surprise, didn’t know we had one in the area.

Oh, and the Nash Metropolitan?  Of course we welcomed its owner into the Triumph lineup.   The car’s basically an Austin, after all…