Brits on the Bay/New Orleans British Car Day

[tweetdriver63]

Anybody thinking about attending either of these?

Brits on the Bay is the annual get together/show of the Panhandle British Car Association. It will be in Pensacola, Florida, on April 17th-18th. http://www.pbca1.com
Looking through past years' pictures, there are always a handful of Lotuses, and last year there was one M100.

The New Orleans British Car Day is the big annual show of the British Car Club of New Orleans. It will be March 20th-21st. You can probably guess where. http://www.bmcno.org

My guess is that Lotuses will be in the minority at these, but both organizations do have some Lotus owners, and they're open to all british cars. I'm thinking about going. It's a good excuse to head to the gulf coast during spring break, or to New Orleans, which my wife and I always enjoy (of course, I don't know that I can convince her to ride in the Elan for 4 1/2 hours.)

[tweetdriver63]

Just back from the New Orleans British Car Day. It was my first ever show. I had a lot of fun, and I found out that my idea of what qualifies as a "show car" was a bit mistaken. There were plenty of cars there that were, let's say, not perfect. I was a bit surprised by how many had visible rust coming through the paint, and how many of those looked like they weren't even doing anything about it.

My Elan attracted a lot of attention, and it took 3rd place in the Lotus class. I'm stoked! There were only a handful of Lotus there (8, I think, since they weren't counting the Superformance 7 in the Lotus class, but in the Empire Motors class. Mine was the only Elan, but I did meet another M100 owner, also from Mississippi, who was there with his Esprit. He has a white M100, and he said he's been on this site a few times. He's heavily involved in the English Motoring Club of Mississippi, and told me to be sure to come to their Lotus Day, which he added is at his barn. I plan to attend.

At any rate, I did beat out a 2005 Elise and a 2002 Esprit V8, both in new condition. 2nd place went to a 1987 Esprit, also pristine. 1st place went to a 2006 Elise, which appeared to be pure stock, and was in new condition of course. It's almost freakin' brand new! Call me crazy, but I think that's BS. I know how much time and effort I've put into my car, and I'm betting I'm not alone in that, but I doubt the owner of the 2006 Elise has done anything but buy the f*cker. For that reason, I'm going to say I came in 2nd (morally, at least).

I'll post some pics tomorrow. There were some very, very cool cars there, 130 cars total.

On a side note, the parts I had ordered a while back from SJ's hadn't arrived yet, and I hadn't heard from them whether they had shipped. The order included Logo floor mats, a seat-recline wheel, and pedal rubbers, among other things. On Thursday, the day before I was leaving for the show, I decided I needed to contact them to see if they had shipped yet. Before I got the chance, the postman rang the doorbell, and, lo and behold, there it was! Just in time. Amazing. Along with detailing out the inside, the boot, and under the bonnet, I got that recline wheel on, new rubbers, and brand new floor mats. The car looked beautiful.

[lotos]

Very cool! I hope to start hitting the local car show circuit, too. Def. post pics!

[tweetdriver63]

Here are the pictures.

There are 24 of them. The car I voted Best in Show is the red MG that there are several pictures of. It was amazing. The guy should have a website for it. He bought it at an estate sale for $20, and spent 3 years, and God know how much money on it. The previous owner had started a V8 conversion, and not gotten very far before giving up. He had to rebuild the firewall where it had been cut to make room for the V8, then he went on to put in a GM V6. It has all digital dash, satellite radio, etc. Everything inside, outside, and underneath looks like you could eat off of it. There's obviously custom bodywork, with no visible bumpers at either end. The headlights are from a 2003 VW Beetle. You can't see this in the pictures, but the paint is incredible. It's a metal-flake, but the flakes are very small and subtle. The real wood in the interior is the prettiest I've ever seen in any car. I was just floored by the entire thing.

You may notice the award plaque doesn't have the specific award shown on it. They'll be mailing out engraved bits to put on the plaque later.

The yellow Elise is the 2006 that won, and the black Esprit on the far right (closest to the camera) is the one that came in 2nd.

[GeoffSmith]

Congratulations on second place.