A bit of apprehension surrounding the British Invasion this year. First, the weather forecast was mediocre at best. Second, my wife and I were planning a BBQ on Saturday evening at a house we had rented for the weekend; the key question was: would anybody show up?

I'm happy to say that we achieved a 9 out of 10 on both fronts! The weather, predicted to be cloudy and rainy, turned out to be HOT and mostly sunny up until 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, after which time it was..... cloudy and rainy. There were no real fall colors to admire, unless you count the red hue most participant's skin took on after getting sunburn on Saturday!

The drive down was uneventful but certainly enjoyable. Rather than take the E-type as I did last year, I took the X-type this year. Those twisty, hilly roads between Enosburg and Jeffersonville are an absolute driver's dream! My wife was happy to report that she saw daylight under all four of my car's tires on at least one occasion. 100 m.p.h. in a 50 zone, what fun!

2002 marks the 12th year of the British Invasion in Stowe, an event that was originally conceived over a pint of beer in one of Stowe's many fine English pubs. As a matter of fact, it was Chris Francis, a displaced Brit and the proprietor of "Ye Old England Inne" who originally came up with the idea of an all-British weekend. Over the years, the town has seen traditionally British events such as sheep herding, battle re-enactments, polo and Range Rover off road courses. For me, the most fun of all is the feeling of living in some sort of twilight zone where the whole town is filled with British cars. Everywhere you go, whether its to the grocery store or the ski hill, you'll trip over dozens and dozens of British cars.

The show field was re-arranged for the better this year and the expectation was for upwards of 600 cars. I would say they got pretty close to that, with the parking lot offering several hundred more cars. Of the total, there were likely 100-125 Jaguars. The quality of cars seems to have gone up too as witnessed by the large amount of top quality E-types in attendance. Montreal and Ottawa club members walked away with a LOT of silverware. I'm afraid I'll miss someone but I know Jacques Bernard received a trophy for his E-type; Norm Carroll for his E-type and Lambros Chaniotis for his XK150; Raymond Redshaw a best in class for his beautiful Mk2; Terry Watson (represented by Richard Grenon) a 2nd in class for his recently acquired E-type and so on, and so on. Congratulations to all the winners!

The BBQ was an unqualified success. We had three different home made salads, marinated chicken breasts done on old fashioned charcoal, all the wine and beer you could drink and superb home made pies for dessert (and all for $10 per person). All this in a large house which backed right on the Lamoille River just 5 minutes from the show field. Over 35 people participated, including several kiddies, and the ambiance was great. We had people from Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto in attendance. This is definitely something we will be repeating next year.

There is an idea floating around in conjunction with Jaguar being the featured marque at next year's (2003) British Invasion: The Montreal Jaguar Club will host a "Regional" JCNA sanctioned concours and slalom in conjunction with the British Invasion. Regional meaning all of the JCNA affiliated clubs in the northeast and northcentral will be encouraged to send people, cars, judges etc. The idea would see a JCNA concours run as a "show within a show", quite easy to pull off with the field and facilities already in place. The slalom could follow on the Sunday with the ski hill parking areas offering huge paved areas to set up the cones. Participants with Jaguars or other British marques will be invited to give it a try. Can a Mini blow off an E-type? We'll find out! 2003 will also mark the 50th anniversary of the XK120 Drophead Coupe; a grassroots movement is already underway to reunite as many of these beautiful cars as possible for a special display. Jaguar Cars Inc., the parent company, has been contacted with the idea for a corporate presence; perhaps a large display tent with new models shown.

Maybe even the new XJ350! Stay tuned!

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