By now we had settled in Barrington, IL in a town home with a small, two stall garage and no MGA to drive. Life will be a challenge!
We drove our first SAAB, Sven, to Marietta and GT-13. On the way we stopped for two nights in Cincinnati, staying at the Omni Netherland Plaza which is a beautiful Art Deco hotel. We enjoyed the riverfront and had dinner one evening on the Mike Fink, a stern-wheeler riverboat converted into a floating restaurant.
Marietta is a pretty town on the banks of the Ohio River. A highlight of the GT was a trip on the Becky Thatcher Showboat (more boats) to watch a presentation of "The Wayward Way," based on "The Drunkard," quite appropriate. Everyone (who could sing) participated in a sing-a-long, featuring "There is a Tavern in the Town." By now either we, or perhaps, NAMGAR, were developing a distinct pattern: sitting on or in boats, consuming alcohol, and singing or dancing.
Although we'd attended meets before without an MGA, we were lost without Virgin. We just couldn't find a place for ourselves. When you have an MGA, you always have a story to share. But now we didn't have any stories. We managed to adjust to this feeling, since it wasn't until GT-21 that PRNCZ was ready for her coming out.
The next day we toured The Fenton Art Glass Company with Mac and Billie Ann Spears. This is across the Ohio River in West Virginia. It was a very hot and humid afternoon, but we did find the "...tavern in the town" just before collapsing.
Car Show Field
There were over 100 cars at the car show, arranged on a grassy knoll in front of the Marietta College administration building in two broadly arching lines. It was a pretty site. At the conclusion of the car show, a panoramic shot was taken of the field with all the cars and all the attendees. A real panoramic camera takes a picture by pointing its lens at one end of the picture and slowing sweeping across until it reaches the other end, by motor control. This process takes about 60 seconds. A couple of the more energetic folks standing at the starting end, raced to the other end, just after the process got started. If you ever get to see this picture, look very closely for people who appear twice in the photograph.
Butch & Dave
That old GT-2 T-shirt has survived many years on the NAMGAR Treasurer, Butch Smith, shown here with one of the Buckeye hosts, Dave Ream. It must have been around this GT that everyone started collecting pins related to cars, British flags, car parts, etc. as evidenced on Dave's chapeaux, which appears again later on this site.
NAMGAR got some local press at this GT. The Marietta newspaper wondered if it was Booker T. and the MGs that had pulled into town. "MGs are British sportscars known for being small and for having road hugging ability in sharp turns." Wow, we didn't know that!
This was the end of Steven's fifth and final year as Chairman of NAMGAR. At the awards banquet, Steven gave his farewell address and introduced Joyce Hart as the new NAMGAR Chairman. He also took the opportunity to introduce and thank all the previous Board and Staff members who were in attendance.
On our trip home we stopped in Lebanon, OH and stayed at The Golden Lamb, Ohio's oldest inn, which had been a stagecoach stop dating back to 1803. The restoration job appeared to be authentic, along with the original dinner menu. There were several antique shops in town that we wandered through...
...and continued on a leisurely trip home. 