Alpine Club Forum

Grand Strand British Car Club’s 2023 Britfest – October 7, 2023. . . by Richard Fritz

The fall in South Carolina brings a flurry of weekend Car Show activity to the coastline from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head Island. The ‘Britfest’ in Myrtle Beach, sponsored by the Grand Strand British Car Club, kicked things off on Saturday, October 7th. This was their 10th annual show, and it brings cars and owners out for a good time from all over the southeast.
One-hundred-eight cars were on the field which included British motorcycles, a few German and Italian cars, a lawnmower-powered Triumph GT6, and a 4-wheel monster MGB.

Awards were presented in 33 classes, plus awards for Best Picnic Display, Favorite British Car, My Favorite MG, and the always interesting ‘Best Hat’ award that made no sense to me whatsoever. This year the Best Hat award line-up seemed to be anyone in a hat. But the award did wind up in the right hands.

I had a contest of my own going on. I kept track of all the cars I voted for before I cast my e-votes. When the awards were presented, I checked all the 1st place winners on my list. I was right 75% of the time. I guess my concept of a class winner aligned fairly well with the other registered owners and I still had time to take dozens of pictures capturing the interactions between people and cars on display.

The Britfest is one show I look forward to every year and Myrtle Beach is a great destination for a few days of relaxation. As a member of GSBCC, I’ve made new friendships in the LBC world of the Carolinas. This was their 10th Annual Britfest, and they’ve developed a winning formula for making it an enjoyable event for everyone. Why not mark your calendars for next year’s Britfest today? It’s going to be on Saturday, October 5th, 2024. Go to GrandStrandBritishCarClub.com for more information and online registration.

There are many Sunbeam owners in the Carolinas. It's not difficult to gather a dozen Rootes Group cars for this show. The Sunbeam people call it a B.A.S.H. Please join us in 2024.

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Richard Fritz
WizzzBANG Motors
Summerville, SC

Thanks, Richard for including a PIC of my Blue Boy v6 and me.

That made my day

DanR

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Keep'em-on-the-Road

'67 SV Commodore Blue Restored & Modified 2.8 V6 FORD; T5; A/C; Electric Power Steering (EPS; REAR DISC BRAKE KIT
V6 CONVERSION COMPONENTS available & STRAIGHTBACK HEADERS for your V6 Alpine
Tiger2Dan’s Link: ​ ​http://danr.mhartman.net/
PDF file on Converting your Alpine: Kits available
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13vKZ9JhB0vO8p2PrMl1x1qfCxh17xJIg_KCIo7HeFok/edit
?ts=5a51997d

Saturday drive thru the forest preserves.
Leaves are starting to turn

With the nice weather, I have taken out the Alpine for 3 days in a row to enjoy the (relatively) warm weather and - Salt Free Roads!

My series 1 is under restoration and I finally received all of the Hydraulic parts parts in I had ordered. 4 different suppliers. 2 in California 1 in Canada and 1 in England.
I've been rebuilding brake calipers yesterday and today.

On Sunday I joined other member of the British Motoring Club of New Orleans
for a cruise to the Lynyrd Skynyrd memorial near Osyka MS.

Preparing to do a V6 swap this Winter here in Massachusetts. Bench tested my newly rebuilt Ford 2.8. https://share.icloud.com/photos/06b3vQT8AIrxZmIyP8stlAS7g

Sounds really nice. Keep us posted on the progress.

DanR

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Keep'em-on-the-Road

'67 SV Commodore Blue Restored & Modified 2.8 V6 FORD; T5; A/C; Electric Power Steering (EPS; REAR DISC BRAKE KIT
V6 CONVERSION COMPONENTS available & STRAIGHTBACK HEADERS for your V6 Alpine
Tiger2Dan’s Link: ​ ​http://danr.mhartman.net/
PDF file on Converting your Alpine: Kits available
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13vKZ9JhB0vO8p2PrMl1x1qfCxh17xJIg_KCIo7HeFok/edit
?ts=5a51997d

I had an alternator failure in May. My 63 /III has a Nissan L18 engine converted to fuel injection. There is a lack of documentation. With a friends help, had to remove the radiator to remove the Alternator. It was so shot, my rebuild guy recommended getting a new one. Slapped it in, and reinstalled the Radiator. Had trouble starting - no electric fuel pump! Turns out that we had forgotten to reinstall the ground strap. Now its running fine - never had a chance to remove the hardtop. Yesterday washed and took for a brief drive. She looks Great!

A few friends and I attended the 2024 Rockabillaque in Charleston, SC this past weekend. A good time was had by all.

Richard Fritz

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Richard Fritz
WizzzBANG Motors
Summerville, SC

That looks like a nice improvement for faded piping. How did you apply the paint?
Rich

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Richard Fritz
WizzzBANG Motors
Summerville, SC

Saturday 20 of us from the British Motoring Club of New Orleans drove in the Harahan Christmas Parade.
A splendid time was had by all.

This is a creation I envisioned on an excursion to Hobby Lobby just before Christmas. I saw a small, 2-shelf display box on sale and couldn’t pass it up. Well, I could have passed it up, but it made me think of all those Johnny Lightning cars I’ve collected over 25 years, including a dozen Alpines and Tigers. They needed to be displayed, and this little shelf would be perfect.
I thought about the design and materials for the showcase, and I decided a WizzzBANG Garage would be perfect. I began by finding brick backdrops online to copy, photo-reduce to scale and paste on the display box. I decided to do the interior too. Then I found online a photo of wooden-plank flooring. I copied the picture and photo-reduced it too. Once I had the brick walls and wood floors trimmed and pasted in place, I began making the WizzzBANG Motors sign for the garage. I used PowerPoint to design an appropriate-sized sign along with pictures of Sunbeam, Rootes, and Tiger logos for the exterior and interior walls. The roof line was finished with a piece of 1” reed my wife uses for the baskets she makes. It fit perfectly and was finished with a coat of black permanent marker.

This is the finished garage... a clearance sale display box, printed paper, and some glue. It’s 7½ inches high and 12 inches wide, perfect for Johnny Lightning and Hot Wheel models. My next project is tightening the loose nuts and bolts holding the dining room table and chairs together before we sit down for our New Year’s Day celebration dinner.
Happy New Year to all, and to all, Safety Fast!
Rich

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Richard Fritz
WizzzBANG Motors
Summerville, SC

The table and chairs are all tight now. As soon as I get a warm spell in the next few weeks, I'll start cleaning out my garage to make room for another Alpine. 2025 is going to be a great year!

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Richard Fritz
WizzzBANG Motors
Summerville, SC

Today, I bought it. More to come. 1965 IV w/ hardtop project.