I’ve just arrived back from a fabulous two week holiday which in the first week took in a few days in Nova Scotia to visit family. From there over to Portland, Maine, northwards to the lovely coastal towns of Bar Harbour and Kennebunkport before heading back down to Salem for the middle weekend to see friends. For the second week, we headed out to Woodstock in beautiful Vermont, before making our way back to Boston and then on to New York where the two main aims were to enjoy some tennis at the US Open (I’m a long-time major tennis fan) and to celebrate my lovely partner’s birthday.
Now you might think that this would be a great roadtrip in a classic, particularly a drophead at this time of year, and you’d of course be right. Nothing too big – I think I’d find driving a ’61 Cadillac as our International Editor did a while back too intimidating – but something like a ’65 or ‘66 Mustang with the relatively modest 4.7-litre/289 cubic inch V8 rumbling away, preferably in red or yellow. Or a Corvette C2… now you’re talking!
Unfortunately, there were all sorts of practical obstacles to making the trip in a classic, not least the difficulty of picking up a car in Nova Scotia and dropping it off in the US; even with a standard modern car, this proved impossible. So in the end, we hired what must be one of the most boring cars ever made – a grey Nissan Versa, picked up at Boston’s Logan Airport after our time in Nova Scotia. If I were being kind, one word to sum up the car would be “nondescript”. If I were being unkind, well, a four-letter word beginning with “s” and ending in “t” would sum it up. It did, however, do what it was supposed to do and got us around without any fuss or bother. And thank goodness for US fuel prices – a pity the beer wasn’t as cheap…
The lack of a classic to drive did not mean that I couldn’t at least indulge in some classic car spotting, and when possible, take a few pictures. Obviously this was difficult when driving, so some photo opportunities were missed. Among these were the only Alfa Romeo and Citroën I saw in the whole fortnight – a green 164 and a DS, also in green. I also spotted – but couldn’t photograph – an orange Opel GT, a couple of mid-1970’s Porsche 911’s, both in white, and a pair of Triumph Spitfires that had seen better days. Add to that of course, miscellaneous American classics. Oh, and the only BMW 02 I saw was a black one that drove by us in Woodstock in the late evening; indeed, I saw very few European classics, with the possible exception of SAAB’s (if you count 900 series models as classics now). Nevertheless, I did manage to catch a few gems, as I hope the photo gallery will show, and at either end of the first week, had two completely unexpected encounters that made up for any amount of missed photo ops.
Indeed, the first of these was as early as the second day of our trip – a Saturday classic car meet in Liverpool, Nova Scotia which really delivered, and not least a stop on the way to Kennebunkport, Maine which included some of the most exotic American – and European – cars ever manufactured. However, both of these will be covered in separate articles, so for now, enjoy the photos that I did manage to take when not actually driving the Nissan Porridge…
