The Twin Bay British Car Club (TBBCC) is based in Traverse City, Michigan. Every August this club stages a weekend of activities, with a sports car show that features a specific marque. This year, MG - 90 years since an article about it first appeared in an Oxford (Eng.) newspaper - was chosen.

The show itself was held in a township park of a small town two gear shifts from the shore of Torch Lake, which, according to none other than the National Geographic magazine, is the third most beautiful lake in the world. The show is open to all sports cars, and as one might imagine, most of them are British. However, the club has adopted an ecumenical / United Nations-like attitude, as Italian, German, Japanese, and American vintage vehicles are welcome.

Per the show wrap-up on the Club's web site, 106 cars were displayed - 43 of them MGs (8 of which were T-types or pre-war). Another 40 or so were other British varieties. Numerous trophies were awarded, including first through third for each Nationality category, and six specifically for the featured MG. Special recognition awards Best of Show and President's Choice were also given. The winner of Best of Show (as well as the top MG) was a 1938 SA Tickford Drophead owned by Lee Jacobsen of the Windsor-Detroit MG Club. (This car was also an award winner at last year's GOF Central hosted by the VMGCC.) The President's Choice trophy went to a local for his 1962 MGA.

  An added attraction on this show Sunday was valve cover racing, in the way of a club challenge between members of the TBBCC and those of the Michigan Chapter of the New England T Register, who traveled from downstate with the ramp, track, and starting gate. Each club had at least a dozen entries in the 12-pound class; only a few were entered in the 30-pound class. A wonderful collection of cleverly decorated British car engine valve covers, many mounted on skateboards with spoke or roller blade wheels, were on display and hauled ass on the park's tennis courts.

The day before the show, the club holds a pot luck picnic outside the town's old railway depot (which is open to visitors to view the numerous operating model trains, courtesy of the Northern Michigan Railway Club). After the picnic, a drive around the lake, on hilly country roads, is held. This year, at least 40 people were at the picnic and at least 20 cars were driven on the 40 mile cruise.

I have participated in either the picnic & cruise or the car show, every year bar one, since 2006, as I drive 80 miles from my summer / seasonal property in my 1961 TR4 (my Michigan sports car).

In addition to the above activities, one can visit the waterfront or stroll among the local stores including an old-fashioned general store with some of the region's best ice cream, and can quench a thirst at a local establishment serving amber colored liquid with foamy heads from a local microbrewery. In fact, I happened to venture into this latter attraction and sampled what they were selling. I didn't think it tasted quite like Budweiser - so I had three more glassed just to be sure.

~~Doug Clark