 |
|
Protect the jewels, its cold outside! A Mini hides from
winter’s chill in the basement of Ragtops and Roadsters. Photo by Marve Harwell © 2014
|
The dark, cold hands of winter are firmly around our necks
for the next few months (how’s that for melodrama). That thought has many
connotations, but the most depressing is that the sports cars are down for a
long winter’s nap. I have always been an advocate of putting the fun cars away
for the winter for two reasons: first, a high salt diet from our Northeastern
winters quickly reduces sports cars to rusted tetanus traps. Second, driving a
winter beater is like cheating on your wife with an ugly woman with a bad
disposition; it sure makes you appreciate what you have. I eagerly look forward to spring and the
first top-down drive. It’s like getting a new car and reacquainting with an old
friend at the same time.
This November a chance came to more ceremoniously end the
driving season. My e-mail inbox, usually a repository for male enhancement ads
and offers to partake in medical trials, contained an invitation too tasty to
resist. Ragtops and Roadsters, a classic sports car restoration shop outside of
Philadelphia, extended an opportunity to take a tour of their shops and one
last drive in the company of other sports car afflicted lunatics. The offer was
sweetened, as if it needed to be, with free coffee and donuts. Ginger and I piled
into 1994 Miata R Edition and made the hour and a half drive to Pottstown.
Here’s a random collection of images and thoughts from the
day. I write my blogs like I live my life, in no particular order.
 |
|
Behind a beautiful, and near perfect, Lotus Esprit sat our
little Miata. At least it’s an R edition, which should count for something,
right? Our MX-5 looked as out of place among the expensive iron as a Twinkie in a
French pastry shop. Photo Marve Harwell (C) 2014
|
 |
|
A Triumph Italia 2000 GT, owned by Ragtops and Roadsters proprietor,
Michael Engard. Designed by Giovanni Michelotti, there is supposed to be only
329 of the re-bodied TR3’s produced. If your name is Giovanni Michelotti
chances are you will be responsible for something beautiful, it’s not a name
that fits a plumber. “Giovanni, you’re an artist, my toilet never flushed
with such gusto!” Photo by Marve Harwell (C) 2014
|
 |
|
Michael is not afraid to drive the rare and beautiful Italia
GT, here he leads us on a merry chase through the frigid Pennsylvania countryside. Although it appears I’m driving on the wrong side of the road, I assure
you it was only temporary. Eventually, I put the camera down, finished my
doughnut, and sent the text I was composing, “OMG, I am sooo driving”, and
returned to the proper side of the tarmac. Photo by Ginger Harwell (C) 2014.
|
 |
|
Ragtops and Roadsters restored this gorgeous XKE as a Jaguar
lightweight racer tribute. This is the way I’d want an XKE, raw, and looking
the business. I love the Dunlop racing wheels. The wire wheels and luxury
appointments are not for me, I want my sports cars to exact a certain amount of
penance, like a dominatrix after a bad day. This little beauty is for sale and
if I sold my house and could live without both kidneys, it could be mine. Photo by Marve Harwell (C)
|
 |
|
The basement of ragtops and Roadsters. If you showed up here
every day hating your job, you’re either the most miserable person on the
planet or part of your job description includes daily flogging with barbed
wire. In the foreground sits a Factory Five Roadster waiting to suck a Prius in
through its snout like a 70’s rock band facing lines of white powder. Photo by Marve Harwell (C) 2014
|
 |
|
Simplify and add coolness. The Lotus Élan, possibly the world’s
greatest sports car, and the inspiration to my beloved Miata. I believe that
when a British auto enthusiast is on his death bed, he can be eased into the
afterlife with the following consolation, “Don’t worry, old boy, the Lotus Élan
will continue after you’re gone.” The Élan in this picture prepares to convoy
the 30 miles to Pollack Auto Restoration for another tour and lunch. Photo by Marve Harwell (C) 2014
So that wraps up another driving season here in the bleak Northeast.
I’ll be plying the winter roads in my 1997 Chevy Astro van (glorified in
another post on this blog) until April. The Miatas are slumbering in the garage
across town, keeping the hope of spring alive with my Kayaks and mountain
bikes.
Marve Harwell
|
Comments