Tales of the Mongrel
By Ralph Arata
“Springtime in the Smokies”

I have mentioned in previous “Tales” that in moving to eastern Tennessee i.e. Appalachia….British Car Clubs might be just a little rare. Well, I was wrong in that there are 4 such clubs here including the MG Driver’s Club (Knoxville), the Plateau MG Club, the Morristown British Car Club and the one Susan and I belong to, the Blount County British Car Club.

The weather in Eastern Tennessee is nice. We get all 4 seasons. The winters only get 2 dustings of snow and temps rarely go below freezing. They are playing golf 12 months a year but then golfers are crazy about their game. The Blount County British Car Club (BBC) has events throughout the year and with virtually every road being an MG road there are plenty of new and scenic routes to discover. Springtime is always special as the redbud, dogwood and azalea add color to the greenery.

APRIL FOOLS BASH - The clubs do get together to plan certain events. Our club and the Plateau folks planned the annual “April Fools Bash” which is a simple gathering of the faithful at Cumberland Gap State Park. The event lasts most of the day and a great hot grilled lunch is made available for a $5 charge to the club participants. This year the event was Saturday April 2nd. There were some 60 British cars and about a 100 people in attendance. The weather was cool (60’s) and pleasant. MGs were plentiful but there were many other marques. There was Lotus, Triumph, TVR, Austin, Morgan and more. Since the Mongrel is away right now and we had Chuck McCallum (former and still CMGC member) with us, we took the Jaguar XE as it’s a sedan. There were no rally-type events or tasks planned, just a good old get together of British Car enthusiasts.

Lunch was a mouthful of fresh cooked hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork and chili. Wow. Waaaaay too much!! As members were tasked with bringing desserts, well, too much of that category too.



It was a great spring day and Susan and I met a number of new British car friends not to mention checking out some of the more unusual British cars that were there. With Mongrel not with us, as it was up at “British Auto” getting its first-time complete makeover in 43 years (see “Mongrel Makeover” in May Driveline). Mongrel’s laundry list is long so it may not even make this year’s driving season. I DO MISS IT!!


The attached pics were taken by a club member with a drone. They provide a good visual of what the event looked like. It was a fun day.

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