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Watkins Glen SVRA Vintage Races & Grand Prix Festival
Sept 5th - 9th
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TRIUMPHS at Watkins Glen! Since 1993, the Grand Prix Festival of Watkins Glen has celebrated our heritage of motor racing. Last year, Jaguar was the featured marque with an estimated 25,000 spectators in attendance. This year TRIUMPH will be the featured Marque and we plan to be there! As in previous years, a tribute to the Grand Prix races are featured in a variety of events during this all-day festival. Events include the Walk of Fame award ceremony, a historical lecture called The Legends Speak, a pre-race Tech Inspection at Smalley's Garage, as well as several rolling events and two car shows known as the Stone Bridge Driver Events.
As I write, we are packing up two of these Triumph Italias that will be shown at Watkins Glen later this week. Stop by and visit our exhibit on Franklin Street at the Grand Prix Festival.on Friday.
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America's British Reliability Run
September 20- 22nd
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Registration is now closed and on Sept 20th 34 ABRR Teams will start at Peddler's Village in Lahaska, PA, cross the Delaware, run south on country roads towards Millville, NJ to visit New Jersey Motorsports Park. There we will have lunch, take in some parade laps on Thunderbolt Raceway, then ride the Cape May Ferry to Lewes DE, dine at the Wheelhouse Restaurant. On Saturday morning we will then tour through Delaware and Maryland state parks, visit another British car restoration shop, see more local British cars, have a barbecue lunch, and of course eat some crab for dinner! If you didn't register this year, you can still support the the kids at Shriners Hospital for Children by clicking on this link to support your favorite ABRR Team Check out all of the event details at www.britishreliability.org
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Encounter 2019 Austin Healey Sport & Touring Club
September 22nd- 25th
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The AHSTC will hold the 2019 Encounter at the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City, NJ along the most popular stretch of the famous boardwalk known as “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” Registration is still open and if you want to participate and hit the beach, this is the weekend!
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British Car Calendar of Events
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Reoccurring Events
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| 2nd Tue |
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MG Club of Philadelphia Mtg., Blue Bell, PA |
| 3rd Mon |
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Austin Healey Sport & Touring Club Mtg., North Wales, PA |
| 3rd Tue |
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DVT Club GTR Mthly Mtg., North Wales, PA |
| 3rd Sun |
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DVJ Breakfast Social, Spring House, PA |
| 3rd Sun |
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Mugs & Morgans, Lumberville, PA |
| Every Sat |
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Katie's Cars and Coffee, Great Falls, VA |
September Events
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| 9/5 – 9/8 |
SVRA US Vintage Grand Prix, Watkins Glen, NY |
| 9/6 – 9/8 |
Radnor Hunt Concours, Edgemont, PA |
| 9/8 |
Jaguar Drivers Club Vanderbuilt Concours Show, Centerport LI, NY |
| 9/13 – 9/15 |
Goodwood Revival Goodwood House, Chichester, West Sussex, UK |
| 9/13 – 9/15 |
Hemmings Motor News 13th Annual Concours, Lake George, NY |
| 9/13 – 9/15 |
The British Invasion, Stowe, VT |
| 9/14 – 9/15 |
Cobble Beach Concours, Kemble, ON, CAN |
| 9/14 |
22nd Annual Brits on the Beach, Ocean Grove, NJ |
| 9/14 |
Brits by the River, Delaware City, DE. |
| 9/15 |
55th Annual NC JOC Concours d’Elegance, Purcellville, VA |
| 9/15 |
Hagley Antique Car Show, Wilmington, DE. |
| 9/17 |
21st Annual Orphan Car Show, Ypsilanti, MI |
| 9/18 – 9/23 |
Volvo Club of America National Meet, San Lois Obispo, CA |
| 9/20 – 9/22 |
America’s British Reliability Run, Lahaska, PA |
| 9/22 |
Woodstock British Car Show, Woodstock, NY |
| 9/22 – 9/26 |
Austin Healey Encounter, Ocean City , NJ |
| 9/27 – 9/28 |
VSCCA Lime Rock Finale, Lakeville, CT |
| 9/27 – 9/29 |
St. Michaels Concours d’Elegance, St Michaels, MD |
| 9/28 |
40th Annual MGs on the Rocks, Bel Aire, MD |
| 9/28 |
North American Cecil Kimber Run, Clinton, NJ |
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Motorcars Delivered... Ready for Summer Driving!
by: Dave Hutchison
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This low mileage 1970 Jaguar E-Type Coupe was just purchased by our client from Hyman Ltd in St Louis. After purchase, the car was brought into Ragtops for an evaluation. The car is in very good shape and only needed the reverse lights repaired and it was time for new cooling hoses. The owner won his first First Place trophy at "The British are Coming" here in Perkasie. |
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This 1986 Lotus Excel came in for a full evaluation and it was determined that it needed a fair amount of work. We rebuilt all the engine ancillaries, resealed the engine and sorted through the entire car. After a full re-spray by our crew at Pollock Auto Restoration, the owner drove it to LOG 39 in Sturbridge MA. where he won a First Place award!
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This 1974 Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special came through our shop a couple of years ago and we first sorted through all of the mechanicals to make the car safe and reliable. We sent it off our sister shop, Pollock to get factory correct JPS re-spray and after some final sorting, our client in expecting a great week at LOG 39! |
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LOG 39 - Lotus Owners Gathering Sturbridge, MA.
by: Dave Hutchison
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In late August we made the pilgrimage to Sturbridge, MA for LOG 39. We drove up early and spent a couple of down days in this busy little town. After some hiking, biking and a visit to Sturbridge Village we were the first to arrive at the Host Hotel. At the Welcome Reception the US Director of Lotus spoke passionately about the recent release of the newest offering from Lotus, the hyper car Evijia! LOG always has something special to offer and they are the only car club that holds the car show first on the day after the Welcome Reception, then we rally, autocross and drive a track day. Show, drive, drive harder then drive fast! Our panoramic photo was shot by Doug Chadwick at the Thompson Speedway about a 40 minute drive from Sturbridge.
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Paul Sears from Hawaii, without hesitation drove his Lotus Excel up from the shop after a years worth of work without any problems to win an award at the show. Three significant Lotus cars in cue for the show, Kevin McGovern brought his recently acquired MKIX, Dean Giacopassi's Lotus 7 and Joe Marchione in his Elite.
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I met the owner on this early Elan at the Philly Auto Show a couple of years ago. He had bought the car from Peter Egan of Road & Track and all of his famous stories came with the car! It is in good hands and if it were not for Glenn Shostak speaking with my lovely wife, It might have been in my garage someday!
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Best of Show went to the "one off" show car built by Lotus for the UK parts supplier GKN-Vandervell on a modified Europa Type 47 frame in 1968. Powered by a 4.4 Liter V8 Rover engine that produces 300 HP, it has a top speed of 162 MPH and is capable of 0-60 in 5.0 seconds! It was the fastest accelerating street car of its time!
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Our client, Bill Swope takes the checked flag on the Track Day at the Thompson Speedway. Bill raced formula cars years ago and truly enjoyed this driving experience and the autocross. Andy Reid of classiccars.com gave a very informative tech session about what to say and what not to say to the Concours Judging Team. After looking over a couple of cars in the parking lot, he explained that the best approach is answer specific questions without rambling on about excessive details. Your car's provenance, attention to period options, and an original tool kit all help! Bottom line....Don't offer too much information!
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We have been waiting a while to shoot this photo recreating the Lotus advert for the Lotus Race Set! A big congratulations to both Joe Marchione and Karl Darby for each scoring another First in Class award!
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The British are Coming! Perkasie PA
by: Dave Hutchison
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Last spring the Borough of Perkasie approached Mike and myself to see if we would like to put together a dedicated section of British cars to be part of the annual Under the Stars cars show. Part of Walnut Street and Sixth Streets were closed off for our show within a show that was named "The British are Coming!" |
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Ragtops and the Perkasie Historical Society sponsored the show. We hoped to bring a couple of dozen British cars to be part of this very successful show. As it turned out, 424 cars came to the Under the Stars show and 36 LBCs came in to enjoy the evening with us! The local businesses stayed open for shopping and the Old Towne Tavern served up fish and chips! Union Jack banners flew above and 60's British Invasion music was in the air. In order to keep it simple, everyone used a Popular Choice Ballot, voting in 5 classes and Best of show went to Don Weinberger for his Triumph TR3A. Congratulations, Don! We just had a follow-up meeting to make improvements and are planning to have the "The British are Coming!" in 2020. |
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We are here to help out with summer/fall projects. Maybe it's time to take care of that deferred maintenance, restoration, preservation, and upgrade needs that are on your car's "to do" list? Click here to send an e-mail to dave@ragtops.com or just call us 215-257-1202 to schedule an appointment. We are currently scheduling appointments in October and later in the fall, so it's not too late to plan for repair or restoration work so you can still drive furring the fall foliage season! |
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We have recently listed more of our client's British cars looking for new homes. Click on our For Sale page to see current listings. Click here to see more pictures of the very clean 'rotisserie' nut and bolt, full restoration of this well sorted 1966 MGB with LaCock de Normanville overdrive shown below. This car was photographed by Michael Furman and appears in his recent " Rule Britannia" book. Yes, chrome bumper MGBs can bring up to 30K! The asking price was just reduced to $27,500 |
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Happy Motoring!
Dave & the Staff at Ragtops & Roadsters.
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