First up – Bessie and friends reunited for pizza and ice cream in East Troy. Pizza was served up by Roma’s Ristorante. Their four cheese pizza was great, but I couldn’t really taste the pepperoni. Too much cheese? Is that possible? Afterwards, we headed downtown for ice cream at time capsule favorite drug store, J. Laubers. View photos…

Our next adventure brought us to Brew City Grill for their weekly Car Cruise. The MINIs were featured and were in good company with Fiats, a Riley, Porsches, MGs, Corvettes, Muscle Cars and even a real Cobra. View photos…

It was a wonderful day for a Father’s day British car show in the middle of a Sussex, Wisconsin park. Unfortunately, my Dad wasn’t able to bring his little green Mini he’d been working so hard to get done. Oh, she was done alright, but dad wasn’t. He got the call and off to work he went. He arrived in time to see the Morris Minors, the Triumph Stag and the Riley Elf, so I was happy that at least he got a chance to see them at the British Car Field Day.

What’s my Dad do that he gives up a British car show? I’m not quite exactly, but I’m going to guess super hero.

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If anyone knows of any other terrific British Car shows this summer in the Southern Wisconsin/Northern Illinois area – let me know!

The Microcar Minicar World Meet 2010 was a fabulous event! It was a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of cars that you just don’t see on the road, much less at your regular car shows. The fascinating array included Vespas, Skodas, Reliants, Crosleys, Rutes, Nashes, Berkleys, Wolseleys, Citroens and even Lloyds. View photos…

After the show, the heat chased us to near-by Kaleidoscoops for ice cream. The cool treat was a welcome respite from the sun. View photos…

Bessie’s lucky day turned out to be June 20th at the British Car Field Day show in Sussex, Wisconsin. Not only did her number come up for a door prize, she also won second place in the new MINI class! Amazing! The door prize is head light stone guards for the classic BRG Mini, who was also in attendance. Both Bessie and the Classic BRG went through intensive beauty treatments for the show. Check out the Classic BRG’s new mirrors! The usual favorites showed up and quite a few uncommon beauties. View photos…

Our British Racing Green Mini went to her first car show! The Kiltie Cruise Night at our local drive-in restaurant in Oconomowoc was filled with great classic cars, hot rods and trucks. She may have been the smallest car there, but she still got some big looks. View photos…

Bessie coasted in for some fun at the Port Washington Fish day. At the world’s largest one-day fish fry, Bessie floated down main street in her patriotic parade gear and sailed off with a third-place trophy in the car show. Before you start cheering, she was only one of three MINIs in her class. The trophy is topped with a Torino, for those wondering. The event was set against the lovely Lake Michigan. The fish and chips were good, but I like my chips crispier. Luckily, the rain stayed away almost the entire day! Amazing! View photos…

Once again, Bessie was across the country when British Car Field Day dawned in sunny Sussex, Wisconsin. However, her garage counterpart, the BRG Classic Mini (that shall remain nameless for now), was there to represent the Pilgrim family. The BRG Mini is finally legal to drive and is sporting fancy new Maine license plates.

I’m checking into the existence of more photos of BCFD. Meanwhile, I’m busily preparing our photos of Bessie’s adventures in South Dakota.

Thunderstorms, floods and tornados did not show up to spoil my day at British Car Field Day. Rather, it was a calamitous fault with my camera, a Canon Powershot S70. It just stopped. There I was, taking photos, looking through the viewfinder, click the shutter and nothing. It was just dead. Batteries were exchanged, buttons pushed, nooks and crannies examined, but still the camera was lifeless. If anyone has any recommendations, please feel free to email me. If you’d like to help repair/replace the camera, Bessie and I would be eternally grateful. Donate…

Fortunately, I happened to have a backup camera, if you can call it that. My Samsung SCH-U520 was able to capture the vintage cars, after I fixed a fault with the memory card (dust). If you’ve ever used a camera phone, you’ll know how difficult it can be. The megapixels are low, the display inaccurate to true photo dimensions and the lcd screen is barely legible in the sunlight. Considering these point & shoot limitations, the photos turned out adequately. View Photos…

British Car Field Day was a marvelous show as always. The number of classic Minis was extraordinary. There was even a Mini Traveller hiding on the outskirts of the show. Oddly enough, a Kaiser Darrin showed up. I had a marvelous time meeting with so many British car enthusiasts and friends of Bessie.

Bessie got decked out as the Rocket Ship, RS Vroom Stick, for Halloween this year. Jenny and I did some adult-supervision for Bessie as Witches. Together, we drove out to the Solid Gold McDonald’s for “food, folks and fun.” Instead, we got turned away for some bizarre reason. Were we too young, too pretty, too many, too British? So, the MINIs met in a corner by themselves and had their own party. By the time we got included, Jenny and I were disillusioned and continued our evening elsewhere with Noodles & Company for dinner and Guitar Hero III for entertainment. View Photos…

It was a marvelous weekend for a drive through the Wisconsin countryside. The show had wonderful weather as well and Bessie even got to park in the shade. We all enjoyed seeing the other cars and one van that showed up for International Alley at the Iola Old Car Show. As we walked about the show grounds, I tried to take some fun shots of the other attendees and even some of the swap meet. Hope to see you there next year!