B38 BROOKLANDS: TRIBUTE TO AUTO AND AVIATION PIONEERS

Posted on July 29, 2011 by detoprod

After leaving automobile icon Aston Martin we decided to honor other pioneers in the automotive and aviation industries. That means we were on the way to Abingdon on Thames to visit the shrine of our own sports car pioneer, the MG

Hidden on Cemetery Road, a small lane that passes through a residential area, stands Kimber House, the home of The MG Car Club. It is named for Cecil Kimber, the father of MG. He built the company from a smallish local producer to a company that sent its cars around the world and, almost single-handedly, established the sports car craze in the United States. Read more »

Categories: Abingdon on Thames, Brooklands auto and air museum, England, Marlow, MG factory | 2 Comments

B37 DRIVING ASTON MARTIN’S CYGNET

Posted on July 27, 2011 by detoprod

We had just finished our thorough and informative tour of Aston Martin’s manufacturing facility and were heading for the parking lot when Sarah Durose Calam and Tom Emmerson steered us away from our waiting MG toward a vehicle that we had briefly seen at Le Mans.

It was Aston Martin’s newest product, the Cygnet. This vehicle is purposely produced for the discerning owner living in an urban environment who doesn’t want the problems of guiding his full-size Aston Martin through the asphalt jungles of the city.  They wanted us to drive it. Read more »

Categories: Aston Martin, Church Farm Barns, Cygnet, England, Merchant of Venice, Stratford Upon Avon | 1 Comment

B36 TO BE OR NOT TO BE IN STRATFORD UPON AVON

Posted on July 26, 2011 by detoprod

The drive from Ironbridge Gorge to Stratford upon Avon is not that far but involves using Britain’s M5 motorway, an I-5 copycat only with greenery. The motorways are three lanes and crowded beyond belief day and night. The trucks are restricted to 55 MPH which is our exact cruising speed. That means we spend our entire freeway existence sandwiched between 18 wheelers. The exit pointing toward Stratford upon Avon was a welcome relief because it meant two lane roads over gentle, rolling hills at the north end of the Cotswolds.

WEEZE @ SHAKESPEARE HOMEWe didn’t know what to expect from the city of Shakespeare’s birth, life and death.
It certainly has enough of the brick and timber structures to qualify as quaint, including the home of his birth itself. Read more »

Categories: Abingdon on Thames, Aston Martin, Church Farm Barns, England, Gaydon | 4 Comments

B35: OUR DIVERSION TO IRONBRIDGE GORGE

Posted on July 25, 2011 by detoprod

The beauty of having a loose schedule is the flexibility it gives for diversions. In planning the trip to Great Britain we came across a chapter in “Rick Steve’s ENGLAND” that recommended a side trip to the Ironbridge Gorge in the Severn River valley.

The main attraction in this picture book English town is a bridge that signaled the beginning of the industrial revolution. Rick Steve says this area was, in its day, the equivalent of our Silicon Valley. In 1779, to reflect that forward-looking attitude, a bridge was commissioned to be erected out of a radical new building material…iron.

IRON BRIDGE MS Read more »

Categories: England, Ironbridge, MG | Comments Off on B35: OUR DIVERSION TO IRONBRIDGE GORGE

B34 WE JOIN A BRITISH CAR RALLYE

Posted on July 24, 2011 by detoprod

It was a Sunday and we were invited to participate in a typical car club rallye in England’s north country. “Be at the Craven Heifer Pub in Skipton no later than 10:30 AM and we’ll introduce you round,” said John Chatburn, a friend of Chris Bratt’s. John and his wife Marjorie have been long time club rallye participants since he finished restoring a 1961 MG A. His is not a commissioned restoration. John took it apart, replaced or restored what was needed and put it back together in his own garage with his own hands. To say he is quite proud of it is an understatement.

We demonstrated our remarkable talent for getting lost again and rolled into Skipton as the group was starting their engines. It was an average turnout for a local club rallye and attracted 19 cars including a Morgan 4/4, Triumph Stag and TR6, Lotus Elan + 2, Fiat 500, Wolseley 1500, Morris Minor and a spate of MG’s…mostly B’s. Ours was the only T series representative. Unfortunately, no pictures because they’d only be of rear ends leaving the lot. Read more »

Categories: Classic Car Run 2011, England, MG, Skipton | Comments Off on B34 WE JOIN A BRITISH CAR RALLYE