Around the World in the Mossmobile

I was planning the 1993 itinerary for the Moss RV, and the places we expect to visit on our travels around the U.S.A., as we attend the wonderful meetings you have planned for the coming season, when my colleague Jamie Pfeifer drew my attention to an Interesting fact! Estimating the mileage we expect to cover is always difficult, and as a guide, we referred to the distances covered during the last three years the Mossmobile has been on the road attending club events. This totaled some 48,000 miles!

Jamie made the point that this is equivalent to traveling round the world almost twice, which had never occurred to me before! I must say that we have enjoyed so much bringing a little bit of Moss Motors to you through the visits we have, made with the RV to your events, that the miles have seemed to fly by. Of course, we’d rather have covered the miles in a British classic sports car, but then we wouldn’t have been able to bring you all the goodies and other stuff that we can carry in the RV.

So what’s in store for us all this coming year? Well, we have a new President, the economy looks as though it’s turning around, and there arc dozens of fantastic British car events to look forward to! We here at Moss urge you to get out and drive your car to at least one of the meetings in your particular area. Contact your local club if we’ve not listed a meeting near you in our comprehensive listing of events on the next page. Again, if you don’t know where your local club is located, give us a call or drop us a line and we’ll try to point you in the right direction. I cannot stress enough that hall the enjoyment of owning a Triumph, MG, Jaguar or Healey is joining and enjoying the fellowship of belonging to a British sports car club. You’ll find that help and support are freely available, technical problems can be solved by your fellow club members and the social scene in these organizations is a great way to meet a whole new bunch of nice people. Maybe you wish to show off your car in Concours events, or go and try a little bit of competitive auto sport such as slaloms or gymkhanas (even go racing in your car!) or just visit an area of outstanding scenic beauty with a bunch of like minded people and have lunch.

Let me give you an example. Recently, our local club met one Sunday morning and travelled in convoy to an old western saloon in a little town called Pozo. Here we saw the old west still active in 1992! Outside was a tree where they used to hang the desperados of the day, and they had photographs of how the saloon looked in the late 1880s. A bluegrass band played while we ate the largest burgers we’d ever seen, and met some of the local characters, who were something else! The whole place was full of the atmosphere of a western novel.

Leaving the saloon, we then all travelled together up Pozo mountain, where the scenery and the views were just spectacular. After, we returned to one of the club member’s houses for an informal tire kicking session (thanks Ken & Martial) before driving home in the twilight glow, top down, following a really beautiful day. The moral of the story is that we, by ourselves, would never have even found the saloon or the scenery if it hadn’t been for our local club staging the outing! So, join your local club – take part in their program, and I guarantee you’ll be a much better person for it!

Speaking of British car clubs, thanks to all who returned our recent club survey which we sent out to a number of organizations. This was to gain information so that we here at Moss Motors can serve you even better In the future, and, as I’ve said many times, we can’t help you if we don’t know where you are! We also cannot point prospective new members in your direction if we do not have your membership secretary’s address or details of where to contact an official of your club. British car clubs on our database enjoy a level of support unique in the Industry, and there are
many advantages to be gained by letting us have details of your organization. If you receive a survey, please complete it and return it to us. and if you think that we might not have your club listed, then let us know who you arc. where you are and what you are doing! As Club & Event coordinator it always heartens me to receive details of clubs of which we were previously unaware.

One final point before I close, please let us have details of any events you are staging this summer, so that we can pass the information on through these pages for the benefit of all, and if your club wishes to take advantage of our Club Support scheme, please apply EARLY! It’s no good advising me the day before an event that you want our help.

We now prepare to head out to St. Louis, Louisville, Ann Arbor, Keene and other great meetings while our West Coast crew will sec you in Seattle, Sacramento, and of course, at our famous British Car Marque Days in Goleta and Dover!

By Ken Smith