British Car Day
If you happen to be in Boston this summer, you owe to yourself to visit Larz Anderson Auto Museum. In addition to being a beautiful museum filled with all kinds of great cars and tons of automotive memorabilia, just about every Sunday there is a themed Lawn Event.
Starting mid-June and ending in October, the Museum puts an event which features a specific group of vehicles, such as Italian cars, MGs, Fords, even a Swedish CarDay! All kinds of vehicles and motorcycles have their day in the sun, no discrimination. This year, the season kicked off with the British Car Day and while I could not attend (was actually car shopping, ha!), a good friend of mine and fellow CarGuyDad, Bob Knox and family, did attend. He snapped some pictures and provided commentary.
Let the great summer Dad tradition begin. That’s right, it’s car show season. This past weekend we loaded up the Honda Pilot and went to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Boston (Brookline, MA technically) for the British Car Day Lawn Event. As soon as we walked into the main field, even my wife could smell the leather and oil that are the true hallmarks of old, English cars.
I had to chuckle at the same time because as Kamil says, classic English sports cars are for old men in sweaters, and boy was he right. Jaguar was obviously well represented by pampered E-Types, an XK120, and an amazing D-Type racer which I unfortunately did not get a good shot of. I understand the lure and legend of the E-Type (especially the V12), but that long hood really has me shrugging my shoulders in indifference. Of course my girls (6 and 3) loved the yellow convertible. Next we moved on to Bentley; Inskip Bentley brought two modern power-wagons that are for sale, an Azure and a Continental GTC. While the Azure looked hideous in that “spoiled brat blue” color, it sure did look comfortable in there. Here again I have great respect for what Bentley and Rolls have given us in the history of automobiles, but these cars just don’t move me.
So lets move on to Aston Martin. I, like all boys my age, began my love of Aston with James Bond. A DB4/5 that can eject a passenger and shoot machine guns out the headlights is pretty cool. The modern Aston DBS and V8 Vantage typify elegance, speed, and power. In terms of modern cars, I would take a classy, old-money Aston over a “look at me” Ferrari every time. There is a reason they call it nouveau riche, and all you shameless lime green Lambo drivers should know what I mean. The DBS in particular is an utterly jaw dropping car that is much, much larger in person than I thought. The V8 Vantage by comparison looks very petite and tight, but nowhere near the dominating presence of the DBS.
The kids were getting antsy, so we took a break for lunch. The Larz Anderson Auto Museum is great for picnicking, so pack a lunch and bring a blanket. The inside of the museum is also a great place to take an air conditioned brake and use the bathrooms plus the gift shop actually has some pretty cool car related stuff.
After getting refueled we jumped on Lotus. Of all the cars there, the one car I was really dying to drive was a killer Lotus 7 with a whole bunch of carbon-fiber aftermarket panels. The cornering speed of that roller-skate must be mind altering. Having recently driven an Elise, I also have one of these on my “must have some day” list. Another interesting surprise was a whole bunch of TVR’s. I don’t know much about the old ones that were there, but the current Sagaris is a road eater with an amazing in-line Speed Six.; too bad we are not allowed to buy them here in the States. All in all it was a really beautiful day, we kept moving to keep the kids interested, and I came nose to grill with a DBS which made my week. Now if only I could swing a test drive… Hello, Aston Martin, knock knock, anyone home?
