This Saturday marked the 34th Anniversary of the All British Car Show which takes place in Mead Botanical Garden in Winter Park. Each year, nearly two hundred British automobile owners have the chance to register any marquis of their choosing and possibly win the “Best in Show” award for the model they registered. With a picaresque locale, vehicles which range of a magnitude companies and decades, and a swarm of other “nut heads” to talk shop and share jokes with, the event transcends from a bland show-off of a few nice cars to a once-in-a-year occasion which lives up to the wait.
Although the event starts at 9:00, I arrived around 10:00 AM, as most of the people who were going to come had and the energy to the whole event was palpable. While many owners had taken to walking around to see the other (potentially rival) cars, others sat around their vehicles in fold-out chairs ready to answer any questions a curious individual like myself might pose. All of the cars were organized into different sections first by make and model, then by year for certain designs which evolved overtime. While I saw the usual suspects like Triumphs and MGs (I drive a BGT and my dad uses a MG Midget), there were a few cars which I had never heard of before. One of the most interesting was a 1955 Ford which was made in England. There was also a British Formula 1 race car. The most intense, though, was the Lotus race car there. Since the engine and motor is situated in the rear and shotgun of the car, the front of it is incredibly thin, and has an overall very alien look to it. This is made all the better by the vibrant green color used to paint it.
Besides just the cars and people, there are other things which increase the enjoyment to the All British Car Show, mainly the catering. The addition of a Jeremiah’s Italian Ice truck in the middle of the hot morning was a sweet addition, and the reputation the bar-b-que from 4 Rivers Smokehouse precedes any compliment I can give it. There were also vendors selling spare parts and different commodities, which while not necessary for a well-functioning car come in handy when the British automobile inevitably will break down from absolutely nothing detectable before or after it stops to work. Also, some of the items look especially grovey when hung up on a wall for decoration.
Overall, the Annual British Car Show is a place everybody, even those who do not have a British car, should attend. Full of nice people, nice cars, and nice food, you really can’t go wrong checking out old Aston Martins, modded Triumphs, and humongous, gas-guzzling Rolls Royces.
