Safety Harbor Car Show 2018
On October 27, six members of our Club made it north to Safety Harbor, Florida for the annual All British Car Show and Auto Jumble hosted by the Tampa Bay Austin Healey Club. This is always a really fun event since the show stretches along several blocks of Main Street and the town is basically shut down. This makes it easy to stroll along checking out the huge collection of LBC’s. The shops and eateries remain open so there are ample opportunities to satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst throughout the day.
Input from Bruce Skaggs.
On Saturday, October 13, eleven club members in seven cars drove to Wauchula, Florida for lunch at Giovanni’s Main Street Kitchen. Giovanni’s is a destination restaurant in the Florida “interior.” Club President, Jim Wilson, had everyone meet at the familiar jumping off point – behind Stottlemyer’s Smokehouse on E. Fruitville Road. He then led the group on an approximately 70-mile trip over country roads and pastoral lanes. As the caravan got closer to Wauchula, the agricultural scene transitioned from cattle ranches to orange groves. The following vehicles took part: 1951 MG TD, 1973 TR6, 1977 MG Midget, 1997 and 1999 Jaguar XK8’s, 2010 Mini Cooper S, followed by Bill Stelcher’s 1929 Model A Speedster.
On Sunday, September 2, the club headed to the Myakka River Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill in Venice, FL for dinner. Members rallied at the Costco gas station at Westfield Sarasota Square Mall. President Jim and First Lady, Debbie, led the caravan from there. The weather was still in the summertime afternoon showers mode, but obligingly held off for us this day. Fortunately also, the Red Tide, which has put the coastlines of Florida infamously in the national news for several months now, did not extend that far upriver. Fresh seafood, sourced elsewhere, was available on the menu. There were 24 satisfied diners, another good turnout for this time of the year. Everyone had a great time.
On Saturday, August 18, Club President, Jim Wilson, organized another one of his patented “breakfast runs.” These destination fun drives are plotted into the Florida interior over back roads, which to most club members, are only vaguely familiar or else completely unknown. Jim always manages to find routes combining both curves to exercise your suspension and straightaways to flush out your carburetors. Individual breakfast runs generally do not draw a large number of participants. But they are scheduled roughly once a month so everyone in the club has ample opportunity to join in, depending on how early they are inclined to rise on a Saturday morning.
On Saturday, July 21, the club had an early dinner at the Columbia restaurant on St. Armand’s Circle. Members met at the “Siesta Row Shoppes” on Tamiami Trail in Sarasota to form a caravan for the short drive to Lido Key and St. Armand’s.