Since the dawn of motoring, Britain has built, competed and won with some of the most successful endurance racecars in the world. This year we are celebrating these wonderful machines at the 2020 “Best of Britain” exhibit at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, which will run for a full month from 1/4/2020 to 2/2/2020. We still have some room left....This is a call to action: Do you know of a British-built racecar that ran at LeMans or was a team back-up car that went to the famous French circuit, please contact the museum to share the information about the car. Please submit your car here.or contact Chris Webb  at 215.365.7233.

Now that most, if not all of the northeast driving events are in our rear view mirror, it is time to enjoy the holidays and support your local vintage car clubs. Car club holiday parties will start this weekend and run through the end of January. This is a good time to join a club, come out and make new friends with common interests, and reconnect with some old friends. No need to bring your classic, just come out and enjoy the day. Look below for the Holiday Party listings.

As in the past couple of years, many of the participants from the 2019 ABRR were here at Ragtops &  Roadsters for the 'Before We Put 'em Away Run' to help make the BIG CHECK presentation to Bonnie Meister and Ray Bloemker from the Shriner's Hospital for Children. (We set a new record this year....$43,160!)  A couple of years ago we opened up the 'Before We Put 'em Away Run' to all antique, classic and sports cars, and we were very pleased to see about 100 classic car enthusiasts come out on what turned out to be a rainy Saturday morning. Many drove their everyday drivers and some came from New York, upstate PA, NJ and Maryland!

We had the award-winning 1964 Triumph Italia 2000 GT next to the 1961 LeMans Team Prize winner, the 1961 TRIUMPH TRS (that will be at the Simeone Museum next month) with a '66 Corvette Stingray and a '70 E-Type with many other projects on display. As always, Mike brings in the famous scones from Tabora Farms which we think are the best in the area. My wonderful wife Charlene and the R&R staff worked hard to once again make a great presentation and there were very few scones left over. Our entire technical staff was on hand to talk about the many projects underway on both floors.

Our technician Eugene Toner was presented a gift certificate from Alan Anspaugh, the Registrar of the ABRR for his "Above and beyond support of the ABRR" this year! After inspecting the cars in the shop, about 30 cars and drivers, some classic but mostly modern sports cars, lined for the run; not bad given the dreary weather.  We ran into snow at one point while navigating the rural country roads of Bucks and Montgomery County and we tookke the scenic, different 32 mile route, to our sister shop Pollock Auto Restoration in Pottstown where Barb, Ross and company gave tours of the shop and served up a delicious, much appreciated HOT lunch!

After arriving at Heathrow Airport with DVT members Lou DiFabio, Bill Murphy, Sumra Manning and myself, we drove the two hours or so north to Malvern. At the Morgan factory we had a rendezvous with DVT member Brian Jones, now living south of Heathrow in the UK, and longtime DVT member Mark Bulwicz, who recently moved to Ireland and took the ferry over from Dublin.

Located in the beautiful English countryside is the lovely town of Malvern (pronounced Molvern). Right downtown is the Morgan Factory, where it was built on a gentle slope 110 years ago!  A Morgan build starts at the high end of the shop and the cars are moved on saw horses and dollies down the slope through completion. In the metal shop, we saw frames being fabricated, in the woodwork shop we saw wood shaping and gluing and the great paint work in the paint shop. We saw finishing in the detail shop, and we also got a look at the three-wheel Morgan assembly area. You are literally standing just a few feet away from the Morgan employees who are hand building a motorcar as it has been done for over a century!

Here Morgan builds about 700 cars per year.and they currently build four cars, the 4/4, the Plus 4, the Roadster, the Plus six and the infamous three wheeler which features "no frills, all thrills"  The tour also goes into another building where they highlight many historic Morgan cars and race cars. A LeMans winner in the early 1960's, as well as a recent 2002 Le Mans Aero 8 6.7. 

Our tour guide did not mention the new Morgan business deal struck last spring with an Italian investment firm, Investindustrial  who purchased for the first time a controlling interest of Morgan. As for the future, they promise to be “stewards for the brand.” as they have been with Aston Martin and Ducati. Morgan’s newest model, the Plus Six, was announced on the same day as the deal with InvestIndustrial. was announced. The Morgan family stills owns a smaller percentage of the company and remains on the Board of Directors.

Since the Morgan Factory is a popular destination for tours, and is a very small factory, they sell timed-tour tickets available on their web site. To book your own tour go to the Morgan Motor Company website and schedule your tour with a credit card. Tours are available for 24 GBP which is about $32 and is well worth the money! They only take about 18 visitors per tour, on weekdays and selected Saturdays. Like any good tour, it of course ends in a huge gift shop, where everything Morgan is available, including beer!

We are here to help out with fall / winter projects. Now is the time to take care of the 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 late December through the winter, so it's not too late to plan for repair or restoration work soon,so that you can be enjoying your classic in the spring!

On our website 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 this very clean 1966 TRIUMPH TR4A IRS with Overdrive (asking price just reduced to $27,500) looking for a new garage!