Only two of us from the Montgomery BMC were able to attend the Birmingham club’s picnic and car show at the park in Helena this year. No one else showed up at the BCF parking lot, but I did meet Malcolm Branch in his beautifully restored MGB just above Prattville. We enjoyed the ride up US 31 all the way.
Perhaps there were not quite as many cars as there were at last year’s show, but we had beautiful weather and a very relaxed and informal atmosphere. High temperatures were in the low to mid-eighties under the dense shade of the trees along Buck Creek in the park.
The Birmingham club did an outstanding job putting on the event. We were greeted at the park entrance by the registrars who completed the window cards with name, make, and year of the cars, and directed us to the staging area for an event photograph before parking in a place of our choosing. We visited with Ruben Greenwood and several other BBMC members there and an had an extended conversation with Bo Bogarty who has the clone of my 1959 TR3-A – except cleaner. The BBQ (chicken & pork) lunch was catered by Jim & Nick’s with sides and desserts brought my the club members and show entrants.
The funniest/most ironic episode of the day was Malcolm and his British car giving a “jump” to a German marque. Let’s hear it for Lucas electrics!
I lost Malcolm just out of the park as we were leaving. We both relied on the kindness of strangers to let us in traffic between passing freight trains.
I was very impressed with Malcolm’s knowledge of all makes and models of British cars as well as with his extensive collection of car projects.
Russell Whigham