The Spring British Car Gathering at Camp Dearborn

Today on the ol' Patio Boat we have a few photos from this year's Annual Spring British Car Gathering & Picnic, which is hosted by the Windsor-Detroit MG Club at Camp Dearborn in Milford, Michigan. It's not a formal event or car show, just a chance for folks with British cars to meet, look at each other's cars, and have a relaxing Sunday afternoon together.

The FUN MG leads off a line of MGBs. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of MGs here, but there were also quite a few representatives of other marks. Here are a pair of Morgans Plus 8s:

British cars old and new, an antique MGT and a contemporary Lotus Elise.

Badges? We don't need no stinking ... oh, wait. We do need badges.

MGAs.

Another MGB joins the line. This yellow B belonged to a couple who had just bought it last month. I got to show them how to fold their convertible top. I felt like quite the savvy veteran.

And then there was this little fellow.

Triumph TR3.

MGA.

Jaguar E-Type.

So, you might notice that my right rear wheel no longer matches the others. As seems to be the case for me this year with WDMGC events, there was a bit of an incident with the FUN MG. I drove over a nail on my way in to the parking lot. Fortunately, one of my fellow British car owners noticed the flat and let me know. When I went to pull out my spare I noticed it was very soft -- check the air pressure in your spare tires, folks! -- but fortunately we were right by Camp Dearborn's maintenance shed, which had an air hose that I used to refill the spare. And parked right next to me was a couple who had a hydraulic jack in their MGB's trunk, which made lifting the car to change the flat a heck of a lot easier than with my old scissors jack.

(Yes, it's true. MGB owners use their limited trunk space for things like hydraulic jacks. It's possible that these old cars need a bit more work than the average new Honda.)

All of it put together made what could've been a really annoying problem into a bit of a communal effort to get me up and on the road again. Thanks, everybody!

And now back to the British cars....

Looking for a British sports car of your own? This sweet MGA is for sale.

I like this random lineup. It's a nice representation of the variety of cars that showed up Sunday. From right-to-left: MGB, Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite, MGB GT, Triumph TR6, and a modern Jaguar XKR.

The Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite: really, the happiest looking cars of all time.

And finally, this young lad from Walled Lake was here with his parents, who own a classic Mini. He told them that he'd seen this car several times before ... and since I drive through Walled Lake all the time, I'll bet he's right!

All in all, a fun, casual afternoon.