rcollum

We have a pretty good showing of hot rods, especially at the Saturday morning cars & coffee events at Katie's. We have one regular that brings one of his 5 Steve Moal hot rods, and we have a good number and variety of other quality hot rods there. (The pictures below are from a single day at Katie's.) --Bob Collum

The ice and snow on the roads kept most of us away from the last Katie's of the year, on Saturday, 12/30/17. A few of us couldn't tolerate an entire long weekend of no car stuff, so we went to Fairfax Corner on a frigid last day of 2017. Chuck drove his Porsche Macan, and Mike D. arrived in his Porsche Cayenne. I drove our Subaru Legacy. Hmmm.... Who is the pretender here? I am driving the only car of the three with a horizontally-opposed 6 cylinder. --Bob Collum

There were only two of us at Cameron's on Christmas Eve - at least, only two of us were there for the 30 minutes I was there, before leaving for Christmas with the family... Paul's '32 Ford looks great next to our Elise. --Bob Collum http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13712&stc=1http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13713&stc=1http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13711&stc=1

Today was Christmas eve eve. It rained overnight, so it was wet, but warm. It was 45 degrees when I arrived at Katie's, with no winds. I think the relatively low turnout this morning was partially the weather, and partially a result of people having left town for Christmas. No matter - our group of Katie's regulars celebrated the season with breakfast at Katie's. --Bob Collum

The Capital Triumph Register is proud to announce that the 21st Annual Britain on the Green (BOG) will be held at historic Gunston Hall, the colonial home of patriot George Mason, on April 29, 2018. BOG, which welcomes all British cars and motorcycles. is well-established as one of the premier all-British shows in the metropolitan DC area. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend as we expect this year to be the best ever! In addition to hundreds of beautiful British vehicles on display, we'll have live music, a Food Truck Alley, a sponsor/vendor Midway for your automotive needs, activities for children, and tours of the Gunston Hall mansion and gardens for participants and spectators. The featured model at Britain on the Green 2018 will be the Triumph TR250, celebrating the 50th year since its introduction in 1968. Participant's Choice honors will be awarded in 25 or more classes of British cars and motorcycles. There will also be a number of special awards including Best Resto-Mod, Best Survivor. Best Display, and of course, Best of Show. Finally, we will have Hagerty Youth Judging in which the next generation of British car drivers picks their favorites. So please plan on joining us on April 29th for the 21st Annual Britain on the Green. It is a great day to bring out your car, celebrate the arrival of spring, and kick off the British car show and driving season with friends, family, and fellow enthusiasts. Cars pre-registered by April 15 will receive the collectable 21st Anniversary show poster by famed artist Joseph Craig English. All for $25, a savings of $10 from day-of registration. Further information on Britain on the Green can be found at: www.capitaltriumphregister.com/bog/ Date/Time: April 29, 2018 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM Location: Gunston Hall 10709 Gunston Road Lorton, VA 22079 www.gunstonhall.org/ Sponsored by: Capital Triumph Register capitaltriumphregister.com/ Britain on the Green 2018 website: www.capitaltriumphregister.com/bog/ BOG Show Car Registration Prices: Pre-registration received by April 15, 2018: $25 per car Registration after April 15, 2018: $35 per car BOG Spectator Admission Prices: Adults: $10 Children 6-18: $5 Children under 6: free Family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children): $25

It was cold but calm weather this morning, so turnout at Fairfax Circle was light, but enthusiastic. It was me, Mike, Chuck, Howard, Laura, and Bob S. and Ed. I'm having battery problems with the Elise, and the Seven was blocked by two other cars, so I was Lotusless today. --Bob Collum

Winter Saturdays at Katie's can be different. Locally, we had a light snow from Friday afternoon thru the evening, so the roads were a bit slick Saturday morning. The cars that show up on mornings like this tend toward the utilitarian, so we see AWD, or German cars, or both. One of the more interesting vehicles there today was a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. This is a Jeep with the Dodge Hellcat 707hp engine; an interesting combination. Not everybody drives what you expect, though! --Bob Collum

OK, I get it. We're in December, and it's supposed to be at least winter-like. I don't even mind weather in the 30's. I even understand getting a dusting of snow - it makes for a prettier Christmas. What annoys me, though, is our local government deciding that it's up to them to prevent the impending ice age - they sprayed their anti-ice chemical goo on the streets on Thursday night, and put more chemicals down Friday night and Saturday morning. All this for what you could politely call 'light flurries' Saturday morning. As a result of all the chemical crap on the roads, most people did not come to Katie's Saturday, and those of us who did, largely brought boring, everyday cars. Still, there were a couple of dozen enthusiasts at Katie's, and (as we do, rain or shine), we talked cars. A day at Katie's (even without my fun car, or any fun cars) is still a great time, talking about cars and stuff. There is an astounding amount of knowledge at Katie's. (And, yes, some of their 'beater cars' are far nicer than all my cars put together.) --Bob Collum

I had a last-minute invitation this week to participate in the Middleburg, VA Christmas Parade. I have heard good things about this event from friends in the Jaguar and the Triumph clubs, so I joined in. It's a huge event - there were thousands of people lining maybe 8 blocks of downtown. The parade is in segments, with several separate parades all morning and early afternoon. Various segments of the parade has small floats, bagpipers, equestrians and horse-drawn carriages. There are breaks in between each event. I got to our staging area around 1:00PM, and did some minor 'decoration' of the Seven. The cars - probably hundreds of us - were called to start around 2:00PM. We were staged on a side road for about 10 minutes, and then drove very slowly down the main street, through crowds behind barriers on each side. The parade itself lasted maybe 15 minutes for our group. We were the first car group - I'm sure the whole automobile portion of the parade was at least an hour. I was behind a drag-racing-prepped Camaro, complete with massive tires and a blower. His car died two blocks before the end of the parade. Luckily, the route was downhill from there, and some volunteers pushed him though the end of the parade route. --Bob Collum

While this first Saturday in December was chilly, it was well worth getting up so early. On the way to Katie's I saw the amazing near-full moon, and I pulled over and took a crappy picture of it. --Bob Collum

A really mild Sunday morning, for late November - 40 degrees and clear. This is a fairly small get-together, but a really nice group of people, with a good variety of cars. A couple of families came by, with 5 kids. Several of us invited the kids to sit in our cars, which they appreciated. --Bob Collum

A busy Thanksgiving weekend at Katie's. --Bob Collum

A cold Sunday at Fairfax Circle - 29F, but overcast and no wind - not too bad for mid-November in Northern Virginia. A small but enthusiastic gathering, with a good variety of cars. --Bob Collum

I guess it's supposed to be cold in mid-November in Northern Virginia, but this morning, the clear skies and lack of wind could only make the 24F temperature tolerable, at best. While there were fewer people and cars than usual, you couldn't call the gathering ordinary. Alan Schulman and I had our Lotus parked up front. (Yes, the plural of Lotus is Lotus...) --Bob Collum

The last Saturday at Katie's before Daylight Savings ends this year. It's REALLY DARK until almost 8:00AM, this time of year. --Bob Collum P.S.: Anybody up for a drive Sunday, 11/5/17? Our local Lotus club is doing a drive to a late lunch. We will meet at the Blue Iguana parking lot by 1:30PM, (12727 Shoppes Ln, Fairfax, VA ) or meet us at Quattro Goombah’s. You can buy pizza at Quattro Goombah’s, or bring your own food. You can get beer or wine at the winery. Let us know if you are coming, or just show up... Here is the winery address: 22860 James Monroe Highway Aldie, VA, 20105

The last Katie's of October, and it was a good one. I spent the morning yesterday doing my Fall Detailing. (I do a full detail on the Elise twice a year - it's normally the only reason I put the hard top on the car.) In addition to my Elise, Alan Schulman drove his Evora, and a nice Elise in what might be a non-standard color was there. Looked like Bordeaux Red Pearl, but I didn't think that was available outside of 2005 - this was a 2006 or later car. I nice combo with the gold wheels. I don't know whose car this Elise is... The local Model A club brought out several old Fords. Michael D. showed up. He has sold his Seven, but misses it. My Seven is still in the shop, getting (another) new fuel pump. Bruce Beachman is sending me an R500 pump, which he says is more robust - I'm hoping this solves the problem. This will be the second fuel pump we've replaced in just over two years. Based on a search I did, I think the OE fuel pump in Zetec cars is a weak point. I'm using the opportunity to replace the fuel gauge sending unit, as the fuel gauge reads randomly, but never reads full. --Bob Collum

I've been away for a couple of weeks, but it's good to get back to Fairfax Circle (Cameron's) this Sunday. It's not a huge gathering, but the people are great, and the cars are gorgeous! The black car that looks like a Ferrari 308 is actually a Fiero-based kit car, including real Campagnolo wheels. --Bob Collum

I was back at Katie's today, after two weeks away. A good turnout of interesting vehicles! --Bob Collum

We finished the ABRR here in the DC area this past weekend, and it was a lot of fun! A lot of interesting British cars, and their friendly & knowledgeable owners. My wife and I drove the Seven. We had a wonderful time on the ~200-mile route on Friday. I dropped my wife off at the hotel, and went down the street to fill up with gas for the Saturday route. After filling up -- the Seven would not start. It turned out to be the fuel pump. Bad luck? Well, it was Friday the 13th, but I was happy we did not get stranded out on the road. My mechanic came over, and managed to get the car running, but we really didn't know if it would last the planned 350-mile route on Saturday, so I drove the Seven to his shop, and left it. I considered myself lucky, but was sad that I'd miss two days of the event we signed up for. I went and told the event organizer, and he told me they had planned for breakdowns, and had a Top Gear-style 'Car of Shame' available for us to use -- a Miata... automatic! (Gasp!) We happily accepted, and drove the Miata the next two days. It was not the 'hair shirt' we had imagined - we enjoyed the car, despite driving mountain roads with the leisurely drivetrain. The Car of Shame even contributed to the event - we used it to jump-start the event organizer's XKE on Sunday! If you hear about one of these events occurring near you, take a good look at it. It's a charity event, and always supports some children's charity. The DC event even had a dedicated flatbed tow vehicle, and mechanics available during the event. There are currently 4 ABRRs - Pennsylvania, DC, New England and Colorado. All the 2017 events have been completed. If you are interested, either in an existing event, or starting your own, you can contact the organization - http://www.britishreliability.org/ Some of my Lotus friends from the Philadelphia area did their area's ABRR last year, and convinced me to check this out. We will do this again! --Bob Collum

It's less than 2 weeks until the DC chapter of the America's British Reliability Run begins. Debbie and I will be driving our Caterham 7 on the ABRR route - 750 miles in 3 days, beginning Friday, October 13th. This is a charity event. We are still seeking donations for the charity - Our Military Kids. We very much appreciate anything you can give. Here's the link to our donations page - https://www.razoo.com/story/Classicteamlost Here is the link to the ABRR website, with details of the teams (some are pretty funny), and info about the charity. https://www.dcbritishreliability.org/teams Thanks! Bob Collum & Debbie German

The first day of October, and it was 44F when I left the house. No Lotus there (besides mine), but we had a guy show up with what he said was a McLaren MP12C. After an accident, he had it severely customized, with a McLaren P1 nose, and some other-model McLaren parts. Note the exhausts exiting from above the rear bumper. Nicely done! --Bob Collum

Some interesting cars there today! --Bob Collum

You're welcome - it's the weekly surprises (and friends I have made there) that keep me coming back! Having my camera gives me an excuse to be there every Saturday. --Bob Collum

The turnout was a bit short of the normal today, mostly because of a car show at NRA headquarters, about 3 miles away. Still, we had several regulars show up. --Bob Collum

Interesting stuff at Katie's today: 1.) A 5-ton surplus Army truck. (The owner just got the truck home at 11PM Friday, and brought it to Katie's very early Saturday!) 2.) A Callaway 'Aerowagen' - a Corvette Z06-based shooting brake. 3.) A Stanley Steamer. 4.) An Indycar. --Bob Collum