Brits and Battleship Car Show in Wilmington, NC
 

Just found out about an interesting event in Wilmington, NC next month. Its called the Brits and Battleship Car Show and it'll be held on Saturday, November 5. That's just a two hour drive down I-40 from Raleigh and a lot closer for the guys in eastern NC. Anyone interested in getting a group together and driving down to the coast for the day?

I know they're not roatries, but they were the original sports cars in America. My first car was a 1966 Triumph GT-6, it had an inline 6 cylinder engine, and it was red and fast. Her name was Wendi! Anyone else out there with fond memories of a British made sports car?

Found this annoucement on the VictoriaBritish website:
WHEN: Saturday, November 5, 2005
WHERE: Wilmington, NC
WHAT: The Brits and Battleship Car Show
CONTACT INFO:
British Motor Car Club of the Cape Fear • Dave Sorensen • 910-452-1635

i assume this is right near the ships in cape fear river....i live like 10 mins away so i guess i wouldnt be totally opposed to checkin it out.

Yes, it should be located in the visitor parking area. They aren't rotary powered but they started America's love for small, fast, highly maneuverable street machines, and the RXs are the highest rung of the sports car evolutionary ladder. Come and pay homage to our ancestors and the people that love'em, we might make a few converts!

Hmm lets see do I have anything to do, no. Im in for pollouting some air to the east with some rotary exhaust :D.

Sorry, not old enough to reminis (sp) about old sports cars haha.

OK, what was your first car, that was really yours, not your parents' car?

Hey guys, just heard from Dave Sorensen of the British Motor Car Club of the Cape Fear on the Car Show in Wilmington, he welcomes us down for the show. He has invited any that want to enter the show to let them know and if they get enough rotary entries might get a special classification for our cars. Their website is http://www.bmccf.org/ with links for the car show info and other interesting info about their club. I know we have some show quality RX8s for this event. Maybe we can add some RX7s to represent the rotary evolution of the sports car.

The guy sounded really glad to have another sports car enthusiasts' group to join the fun. It will be at the USS North Carolina Memorial parking lot and he said they have muscle cars, other sports cars in the show as well as British cars. Sounds like a great time and some interesting cars to look at.

We can do this as the November weekend drive, we'll drive back that evening or anyone that wants to stay overnight can do that in Wilmington or go on out to Morehead City and stay on the beach.

POST HERE IF YOU INTEND TO BE THERE AND WHERE YOU'LL MEET US. ALSO IF ANYONE WANTS TO ENTER THEIR CAR IN THE SHOW TO FILL OUT A FORM FROM THEIR WEBSITE. THE WHOLE THING KICKS OFF AT 10:00 AM.

All downeast guys, you're invited to meet us in Wilmington or somewhere between Raleigh and Wilmington along I-40 to join the rotary caravan.

I only live twenty minutes away, I will enter my car and go for sure but that is only if I get it back on the road, upgrading the turbo right now, should have it on the road but who knows! Either way, post here for all the rotaries going, if rotaries are going to be there i want to be there without or with mine. :)

I will definately be there. I can meet up with you guys at the 117/I-40 junction. Just let me know when y'all are planning to leave Raleigh so, I know what time to leave Goldsboro.

We're gonna do breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, we'll hit it before all the ol' folks get there. We'll probably leave Rawley around 9:00 am Saturday morning. PM me with your cell phone and I'll call you with enough time to get to the intersection for the caravan.

The Same Cracker Barrell by the airport? now that I think of it is there even another Cracker Barrel in Raleigh?

I've cleared my previous plans, so I'll be able to go. Should be awesom seeing all the cool Brit cars.

Great Gary, looks like we'll have mostly 8s going down. I haven't gotten any responses from any of the Raleigh RX7 owners for this trip. I think there is a CB down south of Raleigh off of I-40 somewhere but don't know exactly where it is.

Also, I'll have shirts on Saturday for those that ordered them and want to pick them up.

I have maps and driving directions to the Battleship Memorial in Wilmington and will pass them out to all drivers Saturday morning. The Cracker Barrel at 7:30 AM and leaving for Wilmington at 8:30. If you're going to be late call me on my cell, 919-247-3884 or head down I-40 south toward Wilmington to catch up with the caravan.

I'll have RRDI shirts for anyone that wants to pick theirs up or who is going with us and wants to wear it down for the show. If you haven't paid yet be sure to bring the money with you.

Anyone interested in visiting the USS North Carolina should check out their website: http://www.battleshipnc.com/index.html

Prices for the ship tour are $9 adults, $8 military, and $4.50 children ages 6-11.

Did we want to meet at the cracker barrel south of Raleigh (Garner I think ti was)? If not then the one by the airport is fine with me since it's onyl a few miles down the interstate for me.

Gary, we'll meet at the one in Morrisville, where we always meet. I thought about the one down south of Raleigh, but wasn't sure where it was. Also, I was concerned that if we moved it then some people would get confused and show up in Morrisville anyway. I got the RRDI shirts today and will have yours for you in the morning.

K.o., see you then

The car show in Wilmington was great, and the weather couldn't have been better. Thanks to Gary, Doug, Beth, Diane, for joining the caravan down. Jason showed up at the show after his dyno appointment, 230+ HP for his FC ain't bad at all and he didn't break anything!

And like all our drives the stories will come out. Found a hairline crack in the top of my FCs radiator when I got to the Cracker Barrel, the coolant had warmed up enough to cause the radiator crack to open and start seeping coolant. Luckily it was on the top of the radiator so it was easy to find. While Gary, Diane, Doug and Beth had breakfast I took the FC home and put her to bed and drove Diane's car back. Next, Doug had some fueling problems, so we had to make an unplanned stop for more gas, we pulled of I-40 at exit 343 to get gas and Eric was sitting at the Hardee's across the road from the Exxon station waiting on us. I never did figure how he knew we'd be stopping there for gas.

When we got to Wilmington and turned off I-40 on to Market St, Doug and Beth had to make a pit stop for restrooms and choclate condums. How they knew that specific convenience store had the choclate variety I don't know and didn't ask. We made it to the car show a little while later thanks to Eric leading us thru Wilmington and I couldn't beleive how many old British sports cars were entered in the show. We'd picked Nick, from Goldsboro, up on the way down I-40 and met Dave from Swansboro and Shawn from Wilmington when we pulled into the USS NC parking lot,
3 new friends:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...NIck-Shawn.jpg
Here are Shawns Nordic Green 8 and Dave's RX8
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ShawnsNG8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ow/Yeller8.jpg

The first group of show cars we encountered were still in the parking lot, I call this one "All American Made, Model As and the USS NC"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Battleship.jpg

The variety of British cars was truly awesome, there were beatifully restored examples of MGs,
here are the TCs:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Show/MGTCs.jpg
The MG A was also represented:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0Show/MGAs.jpg
And of course the MG Bs turned out in force:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../MGBLineUp.jpg
The Trumphs were also out in large numbers but here are a few examples of the more distinquished models, The TR2:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...20Show/TR2.jpg
The TR3s were really beautiful, here is one ready for a picnic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../TR3Beauty.jpg

The Austin Healys were magnificent and here are a few to give you some idea of their beauty, I didn't even have to ask them to smile when I took their photo,
IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/GTUser/Brits%20Car%20Show/AustinHealeyLine.jpg[/IMG]

Here a couple of particularly beautiful sports cars:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w/AHSmiles.jpg

Jaguars were well represented, I even found one my age and it won "Best of Show". Just goes to show that neither age nor miles on the chassis affect performance or looks, just reliability:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...BestofShow.jpg

The Cooper Minis all lined up for their picture. Here is one I call Mini & Mini Me:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...iandMiniMe.jpg

A couple of very distinquished Morgans were also present:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ow/Morgans.jpg

An there were representatives from the Bentley crowd. Here is "Young at Heart":
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ungatHeart.jpg

We had a great time yesterday and all who didn't go missed a great drive, some great story making, some beautiful cars, and meeting some new rotary owners. Remember, life is what is happening while you're at work, in school, or just sleeping. Here are a few more pictures from the trip,
As I said the T-shirts were given out to those who showed up, and here a couple of T-Shirt models:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...hirtModels.jpg

Here we all are during the lunch break:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../RRDIFolks.jpg

Here is one more shot of an outstanding MG TC in mint condition:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../MGTCgrill.jpg

Here is the lone representative of AC Motors. Its actually a Cobra but the chassis used to build the Cobra was originally designed by ACE Motors, a British car company;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ow/ACCobra.jpg

Diane found a car she liked, "its so cute" Its a Ripley Elf:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...eRipleyElf.jpg

Here is the parting shot of the day, before we returned to Rawley, we took a group shot of our cars and Ms North Carolina:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...RDIatUSSNC.jpg

Nice pictures bert! Looks like it was a lot of fun!

It was more than fun, it was the best gathering of sports cars since the last RRDI, Where were you on Saturday? Life is passing you by, you're growing older by the day and missing some of the best times, driving your 8 and sharing fellowship with some great people! Gonna see you this Saturday so that you can pick up your shirts?

Yeah, last saturday I was watching cheerleaders with the girlfriend. We will be at the drive in on saturday :). Probably late though.

Should be a couple of new 8 owners there for you to meet. Nic said he'd come up from Goldsboro to the Drive-In.

Good deal. Looking forward to it. The woman and I are going to charlotte saturday morning but we should be back by 8 or so. Hopefully you guys will still be around!

Yeah, we'll be there waiting on you. Drive safe