The MGA With An Attitude
MGA Guru Is GOING MOBILE
Chicago British Car Festival, Palatine, IL - (September 7, 2025)
Sunday, September 7, 2023:
British Car Festival at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois. First news of the day is, not too hot and not raining. Just a little cool in the morning, destined to get to 68dF, slightly breezy, partly cloudy, perfect weather for a car show. Grab your chair to sit in the mild sun and enjoy the breeze. Looks like 400 to 500 cars here, will get an official tally later. Start with the MGAs just because that's where I am after parking my car.
There is a Twin Cam in 1600 body style with vinyl covered fascia panel, which is correct as original. Followed by
another Twin Cam in 1500 body style. There was a 1600 car with a period correct accessory "Continental kit" spare tire carrier. I need to add these pictures to my Accessories Tech pages.
One MG Z-Magnette, very nice, including Trafficator turn signals and supplementary driving lights.
Don't let any Magnette folks hear you call the Magnette a "variant of MGA", because the Magnette came first.
There was one very Pink Metropolitan, which does qualify as a variant of MGA with the same Austin B-series engine.
Rows of MGB, more than appear in these pictures.
At least one MGB with V8 conversion, but must have been more somewhere in the mix. Half a dozen MG Midgets on the end of one line, and a few vintage British motorcycles.
Strolling through the middle of the compound, there were a lot of vehicles you don't see so often, like this Jowett Jupiter.
How about the 1932 Wolseley Hornet Daytona Special. There were lots of Wolseley, but very few specials, all coach built and I believe no two the same.
The next two cars are very different, but they bear the same model name two years apart. The green one is 1950 Hillman Minx MK- IV Convertible, while the yellow one is 1948 Hillman Minx with the older body style (and longer wheel base) .
Next two rows below: 1970 Marcos GT  1965 Bristol 408 1936 Raleigh Safety Seven three wheeler.
1965 A.C.Ford Cobra, S/C model, one of 28 built.
1954 Arnolt Bristol Bolide.
I didn't get the make and model of this rally car, , but the engine is Ford DOHC 16-valve turbo (hang on when it flies).
strolled past all of the Lotus cars at once, and there are a bunch of them. the first is a 1974 Lotus Elan Plus 2, compared to a1963 Lotus Elan. Pretty sure the Jaguar XK120 didn't belong with this group. The red one is 1991 Lotus M-100.
The rest are only vaguely familiar to me. I can recognize Elan, Elite, Europa, Elise, Esprit.
The last white car in this line-up is the 1967 Ford Cortina Lotus. A college friend of mine had one of those when new.
A line of vintage MG beginning with a few MMM models, a TC, several TD, and one 1937 MG VA Tourer.
An MG TD, two MG TF, and the very elite 1935 MG PA Airline Coupe.
1935 MG Magna -- I think that makes it an L-type. If you count the tiny back seat, it may be an L1, If it is a 2-seater, then it may be an L2. I happen to know the owners, so if I'm wrong there may be a correction later.
Top it off with a longer line of MG TC and TD before finding an MGB, TR Spitfire, and MGA parked out of place.
Then lots of Mini, Large modern ones and the smaller vintage ones.
Lister Roadster, 1958, from British Re-creations. These will almost always have a Corvette engine.
Credit to the Austin Healeys for turning out in force, Austin Healey 100 in center of the first two pictures. . I didn't notice if there may have been an A/H 100-6 in the mix, but Lots of A/H 3000
Plenty of Austin Healey Sprite on hand, both , bugeye and flat bonnet.
Anyone heard of the 1947 Healey Elliot? This is a new on to me. Do some searching.
Line up the Land Rovers, a bunch of them in a wide range of ages, including some new ones.
There was a fleet of Rolls Royce. This one is a 1924 Silver Ghost, just to get off on the right foot.
The green one would be a 1988 Corniche II. - The black one below is a 1958 Silver Wraith - The rest all look the same to me.
Enjoy the pictures. Rolls Royce is not my area of expertise. Pretty sure there are a few Bentley in there somewhere.
In the vendor area there was a table under a canopy with an interesting brochure for BeSpoke Motor Union garage condominiums. Try the link and see what you think. And say hello to 2-Apex selling regalia, and Burt Levy hawking his books.
Some food vendors, Mecum Auctions, and Austin Healey parts.
Some of the sports car shops with cars on display to bait your emotions.
On to the Jaguar section.This is not my area of expertise either, so just enjoy the pictures.
1933 Morgan Super Sports, followed by a long row of additional Morgan, mostly Morgan Plus 4.
More Morgans. The big black car is a 1972 Jensen Interceptor. The red on is a 1957 Jensen 541. The next line is headed by a pair of Jensen Healey, and more Jensen than you normally see together in one place.
At least two Morris Minor, the Woody Traveler, and the convertible. -- you can ignore the badge on the black car to the right.It says MG on the nose, but truly Porsche 911 from there back. Not sure how they allowed that one the sneak in.
At least I can recognize an Aston Martin emblem When I see one, but the new ones all look the same to me.
1954 Sunbeam Talbot 90 MK 2A - 10,888 made 1952-1954.
At least one Sunbeam Tiger (maybe more) and several Alpine. I don't immediately recognize the two in the last picture.
Of course there will be rows of Triumph. I could identify everything from TR2 to TR8, being parallel vintage to MGA and MGB.
here were a few TR7 and TR8 together. The next one is I think a Triumph Sport 6. The tan one behind it is likely the 4-cylinder version Triumph Herald.
The Triumph Stag is a bit like a TR6 on steroids with a small V8 engine. Sorry if I offend anyone. This one is 1973.
A 1949 Triumph TR 2000. What's special about it is"Special" but I don't know if that means modified.
This 1948 Triumph Special really is special (highly modified hot rod). It certainly looks serious (and fun).
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