The Gold Coast British Sports Car Club held our Annual All British Car Show on Sunday February 19, 2023 at Tradewinds Park, Coconut Creek, Florida. Bill Gearhart, our Car Show Chairman, and our many volunteers took great care with every detail. Our location at Tradewinds Park was easily accessible. This is one of Broward County’s largest parks with many attractions, but most importantly for our group was the large events area. We were located in the first large shelter in the park and very visible from the road, which brought in a lot of spectators who most certainly enjoyed the show cars as much as the participants! DJ Scott the Musicman provided music and announcements for the entire day. Thank you to our four food trucks on site who provided great meals and snacks to our hungry spectators and participants — Mr. Meatball, Mr. B’s Caribbean Streetfood, Giovanni’s Gourmet Italian Ice and JC Beans. Our Regalia table headed by Allan Tavss was busy all day selling Club logo items.
The Gold Coast British Sports Car Club this year welcomed some very generous sponsors. Vista Mini and Hollman Motors, our title sponsors, were on the field with display cars. Wire Wheels’ Hayes Harris also brought a great Lotus Evora GT. Hagerty, O’Reilly and Moss Motors provided great items for our goody bags. Our other sponsors included Ceramic Pro, Scratch Car, Chemical Guys and British Marque Car Club News. Thank you to all of you for your support.
Our 50/50 raffle was a great success; thank you, Donna Gearhart, for selling all of those tickets. Other raffle prizes included two great gift baskets donated by The Collection and two car blankets donated by Moss Motors.
Our Car Show participants came from the tri-county area (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach); as well as many out-ot-towners. We had 32 British car classes, including our special marques, the Aston Martin and the Austin-Healey. Our day culminated in our awards ceremony; and voting was by people’s choice. To assist in the presentation of awards were Ken Fengler and Neil Saffer, long-time members and supporters of our Car Show, Bill Gearhart, Car Show Chairman, Michael Cohen, Special Events Coordinator, and David Zeitz, Club President. We presented many awards; and we are happy to announce our winners in each class.
In addition, we had two special awards that were also voted on by our car show participants. Our Best of Show was awarded to Larry Kopp and his elegant 1947 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith. Larry’s trusted and very knowledgeable mechanic, Ram. provided us with this information: The Silver Wraith became Rolls-Royce’s debut post-war offering, holding the distinction of being the first model built in the now-legendary Crewe factory. The Wraith used the 4.25-liter inline six-cylinder engine, featuring an F-head design with overhead inlet valves and side-mounted exhaust valves. This new engine design produced 126 H.P. Another first for Rolls Royce was the application of hydraulic brakes on the Silver Wraith, greatly improving stopping the 127” wheelbase Limo. With its elegant coachwork by H.J. Mulliner, chassis number WAB20 is a marvelous example of the stately and imposing Silver Wraith. This stunning Rolls-Royce comes with a large history file spanning its more than seven decades of ownership. Build records provided by the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club document the car’s history from the chassis’ completion in March of 1948, to its shipment to H.J. Mulliner coachbuilders. The paintwork is superb, with gorgeous black wings and upper panels contrasting the cream-colored body sides and wheels. Panel fit is exemplary, with doors that operate with the quality expected of a coachbuilt Rolls-Royce. Thank you, Larry, for bringing this beautiful automobile to our Car Show!
Our other special award was The Best Restoration named in honor of the late Brian Jenkins. Brian sadly passed away last August; he was past Car Show Chairman for ten years, a very early member of the Gold Coast British Sports Car Club, a trusted mechanic who worked on many of our British cars, owner of three Lotus cars, a dedicated and hard-working member and an overall great guy! This special award was won by Steve Regester and his 1954 Austin-Healey 100. Steve told us that he is the third owner, having purchased the car about 2 1/2 years ago from a friend of Paul Wolkovich who was the original owner. Paul was a MAGG, Military Assistant Advisory Group, from the U.S. stationed in England. Paul kept every invoice and correspondence including the original invoice where he purchased the car from Donald Healey Company in Warrick, England in August, 1954. The meticulous documentation drew Steve to the car; and that is why he purchased it, and he’s kept all of the documentation! In 1955, Paul had the new Le Mans racing modifications added to the car upon the suggestion of Vic Healey. Thereafter, the car was shipped to the States. Steve has a newspaper copy dated October 30, 1955 showing the car being driven by Mrs. Charles Millhouse, Chairman of the YWCA Automobile Show where it was shown with other Austin-Healey models. Paul started to restore the car in 1995. It was completed but not driven until Steve became owner. At that point, he had the car taken apart and painted and all parts put back together perfectly. In 2020, he was in the process of entering it in the 1000 mile run through Italy, the Mille Miglia; however, COVID hit and he had to cancel, but he is hoping to run it in 2024. Thank you, Steve, for showing your special Austin-Healey at our Car Show; Brian would be very happy to see it and hear of its history!
And congratulations to all of our winners. Your cars are all special! Thank you to John Morris for taking fantastic photos. And thank you to Bill Gearhart, Car Show Chairman, and his many dedicated volunteers who worked very hard to make our Show a success! Even the weather cooperated; it was a beautiful day. We enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful classic as well as modern British cars and meeting their enthusiastic owners. Thank you all for attending The Gold Coast British Sports Car Club 28th Annual All British Car Show! We look forward to seeing you next year!
Please watch for more upcoming events. Visit our website: www.goldcoastbritcar.com where you will find updates on our Club events and information about the Club. And, also check out our Facebook page. Inquiries can be directed to our email: goldcoastbscc@gmail.com.