I have been a British Car fan since I first rode
in an Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite at 5 years old around the
gas islands of my father's "Flying A" service station in my
home town of San Francisco, California. My
father, Manny, later had a Phillips 66 Service Station, and he worked
on a variety of British and American cars. Somehow I
always wound up sitting in the various British
Cars that were in and out of the shop. I kept embarrassing
my Dad by always asking his customers to give me
a ride in their E-type, Austin Healey, or MG.
I bought my first British Car (note the capitalization of these
two sacred words!) while still in High School in Santa Rosa, California.
It was a white 1967 MGB Roadster with painted wire wheels and red
leather seats. I used to take rides in that car all over the wine
country in Sonoma and Mendocino county and always drove with the
top down! (Still do, come sun or cold). My favorite drive was out on
California Highway 1 to Salmon Creek State Park. My sisters, Monica,
Jennifer, and sometimes Valery would come with me and we'd take our
little beagle "Cinnammon" to run up and down the sand dunes.
I later bought a 1960 Healey 3000, (a real basket case--I had no
business buying the car because it needed a new everything!), which
I quickly sold. During High School, I had buddies with British
Cars too. Gary had a 1966 AH Sprite, John had a 1957 TR3, and
Dean a 1960 MGA (all convertibles, of course), and Donald's
1969 GT6+. That was a real barnstormer! I spent many a
weekend tuning SU carbs, valves, and fixing all the typical
things that seem to always go wrong with British Cars.
While in the Navy, I bought an almost-new 1972 Datsun 240Z.
It was a neat car, but totally devoid of any soul.
I also had a brief (but awful) love-hate
affair with a beautiful but unreliable 1974 Alfa Romeo
Spyder Convertible (and you think British Cars are unreliable!!)
A smattering of TR's, a Midget, and my favorite
outside of the Jaguars, this yellow 1973 Triumph Spitfire!!
Jaguars are something I've always dreamed about, and the plan is to have a full
quiver of them as the years progress. The two Jaguars I have had, the
XJ-S and the Vanden Plas are two
of my Top 10 Favorite British Cars
Someday, I hope to
have all of these fine predecessors to the XJ-S as well.
If you'd like to write to me about Jaguars or British Cars,
please do so by emailing me
here.