San Clemente Outlets 6/12
Alice Johnson | Published on 6/12/2021
I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoy my ‘roam time’ of parking lots filled with prides-and-joys on weekend mornings. Once we’ve found our perfect spot to park ‘the Healey’, I begin my stroll, usually as half of a team of two, which then quickly becomes a team of me. I can’t help myself! Subconsciously more than consciously, I’m searching for the artistry that sits above the chassis and absolutely calls my name. You can bet it has to do with chrome meeting color—rich color. Straight versus circular. Edges versus smooth. Skinny lines close together versus wide-open curves.
Grills are my thing. I’d say hood ornaments topped that list for several years.
Maybe now the fascination is in imagining how the designs were conceived and sizes were determined and all those other aesthetic decisions the creator had to make--- how were the thoughts processed? What did the many mock-ups look like before the design I’m looking at, came to fruition? The grills from last Saturday at San Clemente, were absolutely spectacular. Tim told me, with no other Healeys there, it would be nice to show a car the Club would be interested in seeing – SO, from my roaming around the gazillons that were there - the Jowett Jupiter (1950-1954, 900 were made) hands down, gets the prize! In all of its British finery, it stumped the best of us as to what that name on the hood was going to read. The view from the back was so ‘Healey!’ From the front, an amazingly gorgeous grill contrasted with the curves of all that was ‘above the chassis.’ The ‘chrome meeting rich color’ throughout the morning so made it worthwhile getting up early and getting there with plenty of parking to spare!