Keith's Corner: Will You Drive Our MGs Back From Reno? |  |
| Monday, 16 May 2011 13:37 |
 We’re looking for a couple of drivers to pilot two of our 1974 MGs from the MGA/B National Convention in Reno, back to Portland. The cars would be available as of Monday night, June 13 or Tuesday morning, June 14.SCM will pay for your gas and publish the story of your trip in our newsletter. There are close to 100 MGAs and Bs headed down for the convention (which ends on Friday morning after a 1,500 MG show-and-shine and concours on Thursday), and we can put you in touch with the Oregon organizers so you can get hooked up with a group. The weather is good that time of year, and this is an opportunity to drive someone else’s car – which, according to my friends, is one-third of the classic line, “smoke other people’s cigars, spend other people’s cash, and drive other people’s cars.” Contact me directly at keith.martin@sportscarmarket.com. I’m just back from shooting four more episodes of What’s My Car Worth for HD Theater, at Auctions America by RM’s Spring Auburn sale. The cars I drove this time around included a rebodied 1932 five-passenger Duesenberg J sedan, a 1929 Packard 8 Cabriolet, a 2005 Ford GT, a 1963 Avanti R2, a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS, and a 1970 Plymouth Superbird. The highlight of the shoot was the experience of luxuriating in a 1938 Aerocar trailer as it was towed by a custom one-ton Chevy tractor, driven by Mark Hyman. Some of the cars surprised me with how well they drove, while some surprised me with how poorly they had been prepared—two cars had batteries that were completely flat, requiring me to drive them with a booster crammed under the hood. Wouldn’t you think that someone wanting $25,000 or more for a car would shell out for a new battery before sending it off to auction? And if he wouldn’t, what would that make you think about the rest of the car? The more I drive these cars, the more I am convinced—you owe it to yourself to drive any car you are considering bidding on. Just a spin around the parking lot will be a real eye-opener. By the way, the event was extremely well run, something we have come to expect from Donnie Gould’s managerial style, and which we expect to see reflected in the results (totals available within the next couple of days). What a terrific turnaround from the final, dismal days of the Kruse reign.       |