Palo Alto All British Car Show

Palo Alto All British Car Show, El Camino Park, September 9, 2007

By Mike Chaput, photography by John Quilter

If there was ever a place destined to host a British Car Show, it’s the college town of Palo Alto, California home of Stanford, birth place of Hewlett-Packard and most importantly the location of the Palo Alto British Car Show for the last 30 years.

Driving the tree-lined streets of Palo Alto early Sunday morning it’s easy to imagine yourself somewhere in Europe piloting a Vespa to the local boulangerie for fresh croissants and a pack of Gitanes. Snapping out of my European mind travels I spotted a Triumph Herald and followed it to El Camino Park, the longtime site of the Palo Alto Show.  The park looked like a British car farm with a (chrome) bumper crop of classic sports cars sprouting out of the green fields. MGs, Jaguars, Triumphs, and Healeys were basking on the grass, each with their own show area.

With 425 cars attending the show and 65 British cars participating in the pre-show tour from the park to picturesque Half Moon Bay it’s clear that this show is a huge success.

To me, the most interesting show group was the “english garden” of other British cars including Aston Martin, Mini, Morris, Lotus, TVR and Land Rover to name a few. The Palo Alto show pulls in a very diverse crowd of cars from all over the Bay Area.

While I was handing out copies of the latest British Motoring at the impromptu Moss Motors “booth” I talked with many British car fans. Most were regulars who have attended the Palo Alto show many times. I also met quite a few newbies to the show, just like me.

While there was some sadness in the air since this is the last show at El Camino Park, show organizer Rick Feibusch told me that plans are in motion to secure another location for this popular event in 2008. Moss Motors has been a long time supporter of this event and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the Palo Alto show.