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Car sightings surprise

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DART

DART

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Went to the shop where my SP250 is being slowly restored yesterday. This is a small shop specializing in MG's. So what do I see -a Speedwell Sprite rdstr in full race condition-car once owned and driven by Graham Hill. An early CA raced 100-4 Healey that has just been refreshed to original race condition. A series 1 Lotus Elan with a fresh paint job. An E-Jag under a cover, don't know condition. And my well used SP250. Quite a collection for an MG shop, IMO.
 
That's quite a line-up!

We basically lost our client base five to seven years ago because the ownership of the cars was dying off. The major proprtion of them were sold to "out of state" new owners. There was a time you could enter our shop and see a 300SL, an XK-140, a '59 Benz Cabrio, DB2/4 convertible, the odd Maser or Ferrari, several Rollies of various vintage.... ahhh, the "good old days." /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Exactly the sort of clientele that I am hoping to attract. I have 3 Jags, a TR4, a 66 Beetle, a nice 73 E type,a TVR 280i, and my 66 Anglia 105E and 67 Corvair coupe on the lot right now. I have worked on the E type for 25 years, and the TVR since it was new. All the rest are newish customers. British car day had 400 plus cars last weekend, so I know there are plenty of them still around. It is all a matter of finding them,and giving them a reason to come here, instead of going someplace else. It is a never ending battle, but I enjoyed the good old days, and so I am determined to recreate them. I would rather play with old cars, than fix new junk, so any thing I do to get the oldies in I think is time well spent.
 
My "fun job" was lost due to the shop being owned by an enthusiest, but not a person who had any experience in running a repair shop. THey ment the best, and are still plugging away just buying and selling, but now I'm stuck working on modern (I'll be nice) stuff.
We had TR3s out the wazoo (8 at one time) lots of 6's a 250, a few 4's. a passle of MGs. lots of B's, a couple of A's, a TF, a TD, and a few TCs on and off
A couple of E types, 2 XK 120's (both customer cars), Daimler Sp250's race and street, an MGA twin cam racer, a London cab Limo, a Mazda R100, Classic Minis, Saab Sonnett, old Bentlys, Healys (one claimed 100M, butI know it wasen't) and a passle of American iorn, everything from a 28 Chevy truck, to classic Mustangs, beautiful old Vettes, Cudas, and of course the Superformance Cobra replicas .
I loved just walking in there every day.
Siiiighhhh.......
 
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