As some of you may know, I all but retired from vintage racing last year, though I did make it up to Car Week in Monterrey on Thursday. I always attend on Thursday to watch the Pebble Beach Concours Tour. As a tip, you just download the map from the car show site and park along the route. About half the cars from the show drive by. (I used to go to Carmel, but now it's too crowded.)
I then head over to the track to check out the cars running at Laguna Seca. This year it was a super hot 94 degrees. Add to that, I could not find any Sunbeams, neither Tiger or Alpine, in the pits.
I returned to Los Angeles in time to enter my Sebring Alpine in the El Segundo Car Show. Though this is my hometown show, it was the first time I have shown a car there in the past 15 years.
The next day, my wife Jane and I went on a CicLavia bike ride down Hollywood Boulevard. To my surprise, I saw that the old Hollywood Sports Car building had been all but demolished; and that new construction was underway. Yes, Hollywood Sports Car had been out-of-business for some 20 years; and had been replaced by a Volvo repair shop. Still a sad sight.
Although I am no longer racing, I did take some time this spring to help my mechanic, Dan Walters, get his "Weekend Racer" Alpine up and running. We even took it out to the LA Shelby Streets of Willow event for some shakedown laps.
Speaking of LA Shelby, I have been lucky enough to attend most of their car shows over the years (at Woodley Park, Santa Monica Pier, and last year at Shelby's old place in Gardena). Sadly, I'll be out-of-town this weekend, but I strongly recommend going. The show is free for spectators and offers free parking. Better yet, enter the show.
Unfortunately, neither of my two Tigers are ready this year. One is in primer and the other is still on the rotisserie. Well, maybe next year.
Steven Alcala
I then head over to the track to check out the cars running at Laguna Seca. This year it was a super hot 94 degrees. Add to that, I could not find any Sunbeams, neither Tiger or Alpine, in the pits.
I returned to Los Angeles in time to enter my Sebring Alpine in the El Segundo Car Show. Though this is my hometown show, it was the first time I have shown a car there in the past 15 years.
The next day, my wife Jane and I went on a CicLavia bike ride down Hollywood Boulevard. To my surprise, I saw that the old Hollywood Sports Car building had been all but demolished; and that new construction was underway. Yes, Hollywood Sports Car had been out-of-business for some 20 years; and had been replaced by a Volvo repair shop. Still a sad sight.
Although I am no longer racing, I did take some time this spring to help my mechanic, Dan Walters, get his "Weekend Racer" Alpine up and running. We even took it out to the LA Shelby Streets of Willow event for some shakedown laps.
Speaking of LA Shelby, I have been lucky enough to attend most of their car shows over the years (at Woodley Park, Santa Monica Pier, and last year at Shelby's old place in Gardena). Sadly, I'll be out-of-town this weekend, but I strongly recommend going. The show is free for spectators and offers free parking. Better yet, enter the show.
Unfortunately, neither of my two Tigers are ready this year. One is in primer and the other is still on the rotisserie. Well, maybe next year.
Steven Alcala
