How do you entertain Ladies at a car- centric event? You serve appetizers (crackers, cheese and fresh fruit) and free WINE (and water and iced tea) and give them an opportunity to tell stories! To adhere to the theme or the purpose of the event, we “limited” the stories to reminiscing about adventures in our Healey’s, of course, there were plenty of stories! We had about 20 Ladies in attendance.
Most knew each other already, but just in case, we started out by introducing ourselves, including how our association with Healeys and Healey clubs happened.
Like Donna Hawk (GGAHC) who purchased her own Healey in the ‘60s. This already lead to some stories.
A little more than half the Ladies regaled us with one or more stories (like Donna Hawk who had a long list of stories from years of owning and driving a Healey) or Jerri Nock (GGAHC). Those of us who have traveled the world attending various Healey Meets or joined one or more of Steve Kirby’s famous tours have a huge repertoire of more or less harrowing stories.
Like Kathy Scroggie going downhill losing the brakes approaching a one lane bridge in New Zeeland with a car coming in the opposite direction. Mike Scroggie expertly navigated them to safety! Or Debbie Trentacost’s Healey dying going down the steep mountain road in Norway called Trollstigen (“The Troll Path”) with 11 sharp hairpin bends and a steep 9% gradient. They were rescued by another Healey driver towing them up the steep road! This was during the European Healey Meet 2023.
The winning story was presented by Jackie Deamer (AHASC), and it happened during Steve Kirby’s tour in 2022 between the Goodwood Revival and Tuscany.
After having spent the day at Goodwood, upon returning to their hotel, they noticed some smoke coming out of the engine compartment.
All of a sudden someone yelled “FIRE” and somebody ripped open her car door and pulled her out. A guy in a pink tuxedo! And there were more guys in pink tuxedos! It turned out that there was a wedding being held at the hotel and they were all firefighters. Every cloud has a silver lining! There was a tie for second and third place between Donna Hawk and Jerri Nock. Thank you to Debbie Trentacost for keeping track of all the stories.
Moss Motors had donated prizes for the best stories: A weekender bag for first place, an Austin Healey scarf and a knee pad (for gardening or car repair work) for second and third places. They winners also received a $25 gift card from Michaels, Home Goods, and Hobby Lobby provided by AHASC.
Thank you also to Steve Kirby’s company “Fahrspass for Healey” for sponsoring our appetizers and to Laura Leyland, the President of the San Diego Healey club, for securing the donated wine from a local winery!