Concours in Monterey

[mharrell]

It's not strictly a microcar event but my KV has been accepted to a concours being held in Monterey, California, next month:

http://www.concoursdlemons.com

The organizing committee described my entry as "Outstanding" so clearly these are people of some discernment.  It should be great fun.

Mike Harrell

[cuscus47]

Sounds like fun.   

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Mike

Now that sounds like my kind of car show. Not far from Pebble Beach Golf club.

Concours d'le mons  Celebrating the oddballs, mundane and truly awfull of the automotive world

I presume you will be entered in the "Unmittigated Goul pre 1970" section and hope you do not win the "Worst car", or the "Biggest loser", or the "Most Dangerous" car at the show prize.

Yes that is definitely my kind of car show.


Chris Thomas

[AndrewG]

Yes that is definitely my kind of car show.

You can't go far wrong with categories and awards like this:

Warsaw Pact, 1945-1990 For: Trabant, Wartburg, ZIL, Lada, etc.
Award: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Medal for Most Glorious Achievement in Transportative Advancement for Use Upon Billiard-Smooth Highways as Are Uniformly to Be Found Inside Workers' Paradise

When working in Poland in tail end of the Communist days with a former DKW owner, we devised a new simile for certainty: "... as sure as a cloud of blue smoke follows a speeding Trabant".

Andrew

[Jim Janecek]

congratulations Mike!

As much as I truely love the KV, it's stone capstan drive does belong in this show as an outstanding example

You are going to get a lot of attention from this.

[mharrell]

I presume you will be entered in the "Unmittigated Goul pre 1970" section and hope you do not win the "Worst car", or the "Biggest loser", or the "Most Dangerous" car at the show prize.

     The KV hasn't yet been assigned a class, though it appears to qualify for at least three:

          Unmitigated Gaul, 1970-current

          Oil Burners

          Ass-Engine Sled, Non-Hessian

I can only dream of being in the running of such special awards as "Most Dangerous" or the doubtless highly coveted "WTF??? Award" but I suspect competition from the Art Car world will be fierce.  It might have had a shot at "Most Effluent" but the local emissions facilities will only examine vehicles which are required to be tested under state law and the KV is exempt.  Just as well, I suppose.

[mharrell]

And the results:  The KV was the overall winner [sic], taking both the "Worst of Show" and Sports Car Market's "Fright Pig Supremo" award.  I can only assume that fame, fortune, and so forth will follow.

Mike Harrell

[Chris Thomas]

Dear Mike

Congratulations on winning such a prestigious award.

Any chance of any pictures of the event and you receiving the award.

We are all proud of you.

If only I could have been there!

Chris Thomas

[mharrell]

I just got home yesterday evening-- the MGB was not happy towing a trailer 980 miles each way in August, so speeds were slow, but it made the trip.  The show's organizer, Alan Galbraith, promises to have the official results posted after he recovers from his own journey, but there's already one shot of the KV looking jaunty here, with a RUMCars sticker and Vintage Microcar sticker (Hi, Jim!) on the windshield for scale:

http://www.concoursdlemons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94

Immediately below it is the little red wagon that took the WTF Award.

The show was arranged according to Allied vs. Axis Powers, with the US in the middle of things, for a total of about 80 cars.  There were so many US vehicles, though, that later arrivals were placed around the perimeter.  A very sharp red Crosley Hotshot (with crash-test dummy) ended up back-to-back with the KV.  I got the impression that the owners were not used to having their car look large.

Mike Harrell

[mharrell]

The concours (and the KV in particular) now has been covered in an astonishing number of venues.  The official website has a comprehensive list as a news item for 24 August:

http://www.concoursdlemons.com/

So far the most detailed article on the car itself is here:

http://clunkbucket.com/victoire-de-citrons/

but if you happen to prefer a British point of view, there's this:

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20473

Mike Harrell

[marcus]

Thanks Mike, MGB tow car...very smart! As I posted elsewhere I chose an MG Midget in the 70s over B, TR, Spitfire etc because it was the only one which would carry my drum kit...more room behind the seats for 2 floor toms! It sounds like you had a great time, shame to see that rear ended Citroen DS. When I was a child in South America my parents best friends had the first ID 11 (DS Mk 1) in Uruguay, it always caused a sensation.

[mharrell]

Thanks Mike, MGB tow car...very smart! As I posted elsewhere I chose an MG Midget in the 70s over B, TR, Spitfire etc because it was the only one which would carry my drum kit...more room behind the seats for 2 floor toms! It sounds like you had a great time, shame to see that rear ended Citroen DS.

I've been using the B for towing ever since I got the KV but have decided it's a bit oversized for the job.  A couple of months ago I purchased one of perhaps a half-dozen MG Metros in the US, featured here with its previous owner:

http://www.aronline.co.uk/index.htm?cotm200812f.htm

I had hoped to use this for the trip to Monterey so as also to enter it in the "Rueful Britannia, 1966-current" class, but I'm still struggling to find a replacement for its left rear hydragas displacer which failed a couple of days after I bought the car.  The kindly Mr. Cyphus was most helpful in getting a proper trailer hitch to me, so it may all be ready fairly soon.

The ruinous damage to the Citroen was a great shame, but the owners made the most of it.  It turns out one can keep the hydraulic suspension in a reasonably good mood by clamping the damaged bits with Vise-Grips.  They drove it around the park before towing it home backwards with the front wheels on the ground, to the horror of the onlooking Citroen enthusiasts.  I gather that's not good for it.

Mike Harrell

[marcus]

Mike, I will have to whisper this because in UK we are not really supposed to talk about BL cars because they are being systematically erased from our collective consciousness and history! I had Minis and a Maxi, I hope no-one heard, thought police are everywhere if you use the letters LB in the wrong order!

Years ago I made myself EXTREMELY unpopular with the new girlfriend of my old bassist. She had just bought her 1st ever brand new car and came over in it (I was unaware that it was hers, and new). It was a Metro City, as she reversed into the drive I spotted the names close together on the rear door and said to Ken too loudly: "Look, it's a Metrocity!"  (pronounced as "Atrocity"). She heard. Bad thing. The end.

[mharrell]

BL cars ... are being systematically erased from our collective consciousness and history

Come to think of it, the previous owner of my '74.5 B removed a set of rectangular chrome bits featuring funny swirly things around the letter L, one from each front fender, just before repainting the car.  Not a soul in the local MG club has ever drawn attention to this deficit; most of them have earlier cars anyway.

Still, I fear this thread is wandering far afield from unusual microcars at this point.  I've never encountered a Tunnock's teacake, though, so I'm at a loss for redirecting it.

Mike Harrell

[Bob Purton]

Lets stick with the BL subject, its a great shame that our motoring history is shown such disrespect, the attitude is encourage by the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and other idiots on our TV screens. What folk forget is that BL were often at the cutting edge, it was the quality control that let the side down and by the time that Rover cars got that sorted the brand was so tarnished the inevitable happened. No government bail out and now gone forever along with Leyland commercial vehicle.