May 26, 2023

Great Scot!  British car show - Greenville, SC

We left Friday morning for Greenville and the British car show at Furman University that is held in conjunction with a large Scottish games event.  Stopped for gas in Athens and this jacked-up truck rolled in.  Couldn't pass up this photo op!  No my cup of tea, but it was beautifully built.  (the custom chassis is mostly hidden the the Midget)

We had a nice, uneventful drive to Anderson, SC where we stopped for lunch at the world famous Skin's Hot Dogs.  A dog all the way, homemade slaw and an IBC root beer.  What could be better?!

(Anderson is the home of T. L. Hanna high school and James "Radio" Kennedy).

One of the things I wanted to do while in Greenville was  to go and see Jack's Place.  This is a fully equipped garage that was a bequest to the Foothills British Car Club from club member Jack Donegan when he passed away.  Members have the use of the garage for general maintenance for their cars.  It is a great resource for the club (and a great incentive to join!). 

After checking in to the hotel, we walked downtown to a restaurant called Nosedive for dinner and to watch the Scottish parade, which is a prelude to the Scottish games tomorrow.  The parade had several massed pipe and drum bands (one from Atlanta), members of various clans marching with their banner and, of course, no parade is complete without a float full of beautiful lasses!

Tomorrow is the car show as well as the Scottish Games at Furman University.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast is not good, but hopefully, the weatherman will be wrong!  

Springtime in the Smokies - Showtime!

May 13, 2023 

We got to Townsend yesterday after an uneventful drive from Cartersville.  After we checked in at the motel, we went to the show site where we could pick up our registration packet and socialized with some of our old friends and made new ones.  There was a cook-out provided by the organizers and afterwards we sat around a fire pit and caught up.

Today, we drove to the field next to the Tally Ho Inn, were directed to our parking space and cleaned up the car.  There was no rain predicted and it turned out to be a beautiful, hot day.  After looking at all the cars and voting for our favorites, we had lunch and waited for the awards.  This show had classes set up differently from anyone else.  The have classes based on years, such as '65-'69, '70-'74, '75-'80, etc.  It was a little odd having different makes of cars, as well as different models in the same class but seemed to work out well and everyone had a good time.  Four of the cars from the PMGR and the GTA in the Atlanta area won their class, including our Midget!  Here are some pictures from the show.  Tomorrow we will head back home taking a different route.  The weather should be fine, but maybe a little hot.

Springtime in the Smokies - Townsend, TN

 May 11, 2023

Since the show in Columbia/Cayce, SC, we have been to Pensacola for Brits by the Bay and Gainesville, FL for the GOF South.  Maybe I'll fill in later with an update and pictures.  For now, we are on our way to the Smoky Mountains for the show in Townsend, TN.  We decided to split the drive up and stop in Cartersville, GA and visit the Savoy Automobile Museum.

On the way out of Atlanta, we passed this interesting castle house in the Milton area.  This is a private residence so no tours!

 After  arriving in Cartersville, we stopped by the hotel, then  had a very good lunch at the Main Street Coastal Cuisine Cafe, and then headed to the museum.  The Savoy is an outstanding new museum that is run by the same people that run the Booth Western Museum and the Tellus Science Museum, both also in Cartersville, GA and both also first class facilities.  Along with their permanent display, the Savoy has rotating displays and the current one is British cars.  The Savoy is a beautiful, first class facility.  Even the building is a work of art!

Wonder where they got the name?  Well, when they were clearing the field, they came across this 1954 Plymouth Savoy.  They were looking for a name representing the superlative quality that the museum would be and Savoy fit the bill.  Thus, the Savoy Automobile Museum was born!

There was a room with cars from the Savoy's permanent collection as well as a room with a temporary collection of Porsche cars.  While they were all very nice, we were interested in the temporary display of  British cars.  Here are a few examples:

Wayne Carini's 1952 Allard J2

1952 Arnolt MG

1954 Arnolt Bristol Bolide

1964 AC Ace - drop a small Ford V-8 and, voila, you have a Shelby Cobra!

There were a lot of very nice, rare cars and the displays were very well done.  Later we had dinner downtown at the Appalachian Grill.  We were surprised at how nice and busy the downtown was on Thursday night.  

After dinner, we drove back to the hotel and put the top up, as there is a high chance of rain in the morning.  Tomorrow we will head to Townsend, TN.  Unfortunately, there is a high chance of rain the rest of the weekend.  Hopefully, it won't be as bad as predicted!