I left Glendale as the sun was coming up over the foothills and headed for the Petersen Museum for their monthly gathering. When I arrived there were only a small number of cars on the display area, but one of them was Phil Caliva in his new BJ8. I wondered to myself “does Phil ever sleep?” We were joined by Phil’s cousin Filippo, who like Phil is an Alfa fan.
Next to join us was David Thorne and son, in Dave’s two-light BJ8. This was Dave’s second club event and he said he had brought his son as a reward for helping repair the car’s heater which had sprung a leak after the tech session the week before. By now the roof was filling up with a wide variety of cars of various time periods. Also, the coffee and bagels were being served so it was off to breakfast and then car viewing. As I walked up and down the rows of cars I discovered Dave Beugen had snuck in with his Healey Blue 100-4. The cars on hand were a mixture of old-to-new with a nice group of British cars: Rolls Royce, our Healeys, a Jensen Interceptor, a Jaguar XK-140 and a Lotus exotic.
Each month the Petersen staff awards from one to three trophies: the Petersen, for most museum ready; the People’s Choice; and the Best in Show.
This month the Petersen trophy went to a Nissan Pao, a retro-
looking two door with tail gate and a sliding canvas top. It was made from 1989-1991 for domestic sales only.
People’s choice was a Volvo 1800 ESX and the Best in Show went to a De Tomaso Pantera.