More British, German and Italian classic cars and motorbikes than ever before! Tomorrow the 2020 Philadelphia International Auto Show will open to the public and it will be held once again at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. We here at Ragtops & Roadsters and Pollock Auto Restoration plan to be there on the red carpet to support the largest car club in the world, the  Antique Automobile Club of America. We have more square footage this year and we have over thirty AACA vehicles in our exhibit. The AACA Exhibit is located in Hall F Space F-4 near the Broad Street Entrance. The show kicks off with the Black Tie Gala on Friday night, February 7th and runs through President's Day Monday February 17th. Click HERE for more Auto Show information. Weekdays are the least crowded, so find a good pair of walking shoes, plan to come out to the show and make sure you stop by to see  "Philadelphia's Cavalcade of Fine Motorcars" at the AACA Exhibit.

   It is that time again! We have been busy preparing for our annual pilgrimage to the Amelia Island Concours. This year, our journey will start early next month when we load onto our trailer the 1964 Triumph Italia 2000 GT Vignale #295 that will appear on the Concours show field on Sunday, March 8th.  This Italia 2000 GT is the third Italia that we have restored that has been invited to this annual prestigious Concours. As always this car has been a labor of love and a team effort with our sister shop Pollock Auto Restoration. Since completion, this Italia has been awarded 399 points (we have since found the additional point!) at the 2018 Vintage Triumph Register in La Crosse, WI and a First in Class at Concorso Italiano in Monterey, California. It has been fully sorted and runs very strong and our client is looking forward to driving his car on the “Porsche Driving Experience” on Friday. 
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   We plan to attend the Bonhams, Gooding & Company and RM Sotheby's auctions and maybe more. For the past 25 years Bill Warner (Happy Silver Anniversary, Bill!) has invited many of our racing legends to serve as honoree for this incredible event. This year, we will see and hear from Roger Penske, the winner of the SCCA Driver of the Year in 1961. After retiring from driving a few years later, he created one of the most successful teams in IndyCar Series and NASCAR racing. The "Captain" has become known as the most successful owner in the Indianapolis 500 with 18 victories. We plan to attend two seminars: Penske Perfect Effort = Results and Team Penske - The Early Years on Friday and Saturday and I expect these seminars to be very informative and entertaining! 

The Cars & Coffee has become a very popular event on Saturday and has great support from local car clubs. Hopefully we will place the Italia on the show field Saturday later that afternoon. Stay tuned on Ragtops & Roadsters Facebook page for more updates. For full schedule of events click on Amelia Island Concours 

Michael Furman was in attendance, autographing and selling books in the same room where many of his glorious photographs were shot that appear in Rule Britannia. Over 200 enthusiasts came out on that rainy night and got their money’s worth with admission, healthy Philly Hoagies, pretzels, (sponsored by Ragtops & Roadsters), the two Lauren cars and not to mention John's fantastic talk! You could hear a pin drop as John told his incredibly detailed stories of the brave men and women that raced the 24 HR endurance race. Like we said...this was one not to be missed!

On Sunday Jan 25, was the first "Demo Day" for 2020 at the museum. Fred and Kevin had planned to run the Aston Martins, MG and more British iron outside but instead we stayed in and were treated to another historical presentation by Dr. Simeone as he bestowed us with his incredible knowledge of Le Mans! Also, Rick Adams, Director of Education at the museum gave an interesting talk about the D-Type and disc brake development. 

Ford Heacock at left, and his entire family flew up from Florida and gathered around his Sebring Sprite, to join us on British Car Club Day!  Ford just acquired another famous racer with very cool history... Maybe we will see that one the the Simeone Museum in the future?  Triumph Club Members from the Capital Triumph Register and Delaware Valley Triumph clubs gathered around the TRS that is headed to its new owner in California after the exhibition.

We are here to help out with winter / spring projects. Now is the time to take care of the deferred maintenance, restoration, preservation, and upgrade needs that are on your car's "to do" list! Click here to send an e-mail to dave@ragtops.com or just call us 215-257-1202 to schedule an appointment. We are currently scheduling appointments in March, so it's not too late to plan for repair or restoration work soon, so that you can be enjoying your classic in the spring!

On our website we have recently listed more of our client's British cars looking for new homes. Click on our For Sale page to see current listings. Click here to see NEW pictures of this very clean 1966 TRIUMPH TR4A IRS with Overdrive (asking price just reduced to $27,500) looking for a new garage!