RENO, NV (March 6) — This weekend two groups had meets to get the month of March rolling. On Saturday it was the Nevada Jeep Club at the Peavine Tap House while Reno Cars & Coffee had its meet Sunday by the Kietzke Starbucks.
Despite some mile snow flurries the turn out for the Nevada Jeep Club was more than expected. Many lined up their jeeps so other could see them.
At the Peavine Tap House there was a table for the three trophies and swag as well. The trophies were for, Cleanest, Best in Show and the Dirtiest.
There was even live music and the club planned to take up a collection for them. All in all it was a good time for all and next time there should even more Jeeps on hand.
• The next day Reno Cars & Coffee held its first of the month meet by the Kietzke Starbucks. Considering the cool temperatures it was a good turn out of cars.
The vehicles at these meets sometimes have quite a contrast. On one row a person arrived in his Fiat 500, like he said, “that’s not cubic inches but cubic centimeters.”
One car getting a lot of attention was a 2020 Toyota Supra owned by John Silva. It appeared to have the most unusual paint job but it wasn’t.
“It’s a vinyl wrap. We did a collaboration with Paradox Styling; it’s his vinyl line. So it’s a purple, diamond lilac which is what the vinyl is called,” he said.
The wrap not only attractions attention but the Toyota itself is a work car as well as a rolling advertisement.
“So this is my shop car, I own a company called NV Specialties. Everything on the car that’s in carbon fiber is what I sell,” he said. “So I’ve got 32 products for this platform and we do carbon fiber for the Mark 5 Toyota Supra. Can’t go stop light to stop light without someone’s phone out the window.”
Silva said he got the car August 7, 2019. Then he and his crew began tearing it down and making carbon fiber pieces for it.
The next unusual car was a 1948 MG-TC, with right-hand drive, owned by Joel Taylor. While some work has been done on it, the car is all stock.
“My dad bought it in 1954 I believe,” he said. “My dad and my uncle both bought identical cars, but they didn’t even know they had bought the same car. When they showed up at an air show and both had the same car it just blew them away. My uncle still has his and my dad has passed and I ended up with this car.”
At first Taylor’s main focus was getting it running again rather than restoring it. He explained the car has been sitting in a garage at his late father’s house since about 1969.
“I just got it running last year. So that’s how long it was sitting in the garage,” he said. “We basically changed the oil on the engine, the points and put new plugs in there and that was pretty much it. The brake lines and the brake fluid and all that sort of stuff had to be replaced, the gas tank had to be cleaned out but it’s pretty much as he drove it into the garage.”
Of course a car of this vintage is driven a bit differently than newer vehicles.
“Well put this way, you drive it you don’t let the car drive the road. It’s a handful it’s 19 inch by 4-inch wheels. You can see the big steering wheel on there, well there’s a reason it, no power steering. But it’s a lot of fun to drive it,” he said. “I got a couple of waves on the way over here.”
Another interesting aspect to driving the MG is that it is right hand drive.
“That’s challenging for a couple of reasons. One is your situational awareness; you have to be sure you’re always looking over your right shoulder to make sure you stay in traffic,” he explained. “We do have two mirrors but they are on the wrong side of the car. So anything I do to change a lane in my left direction I have to be careful of that.
“The other issue is this has no turn signals on it. So in order to indicate my turning I use a backwards version of the arm signal. Up is the left, out is my right turn and down is my slow speed.”
On closer inspection the paint has fine cracks through it so new paint is on the list of things to do. Another is installing turn signals and the car doesn’t have seat belts to those will be installed as well.
“It’s been a joy to drive it and it’s like a family heirloom,” he said. “I just been really glad that I could get it back up and running. My wife loves it and she just loves to go out for drives in it.”
Next up for Reno Cars & Coffee will be their meet on March 20th at the Human Bean located by the corner of Kietzke and Moana Lane. On March 13 Sparks Cars & Coffee is schedule for their meet but they may need to find a new location. More on the later.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• Remember that Sunday is the start of Daylight Savings Time so be sure to set you clocks ahead one hour before going to bed Saturday night.
• For more results from national series plus what’s going on with tracks in California be sure to watch Davey’s American Racing at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening on Face Book.
• Teresa’s Garage Radio Show is on the air from 2 until 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. In northwest Nevada, it can be heard over the air at 1060 AM.
There is also a Podcast at amm.streamon.fm or it can be seen live on Face Book. The show is focused on all things automotive, trends, new developments and trivia.
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