Collector’s Car Garage Visit
On Saturday May 18th the Chicago Region had organized a special event just for members of the Sports Car Club of America and their guests to view a collection of privately owned vehicles. Forty three people signed up for the visit at Collectors Car Garage (CCG), 2500 W Bradley Pl Suite D, Chicago, IL 60618. CCG is a 300 car facility on Chicago’s north side. Our group began arriving shortly after 9am and with coffee and doughnuts available the social element of the gathering soon took place. Around 9:30am a gentleman arrived and joined to group. He joined in with the conversation and was soon asked if he was here for the event, and he answered “yes”, followed with “actually I’m your host”. He then introduced himself, “I’m Burt Richmond”.
Conversation with Burt continued and he quipped, that he is probably one of a very few members of the Collectors’ Car Garage that knows what the SCCA is all about. He then showed us a June Sprints® trophy from the early 1970’s that he had won in the Formula Vee race that was on display in the lounge area of the garage.
As our attending members numbers grew Burt and others on staff from the CCG provided guided tours of the garage and providing historical and interesting information about the cars. The cars in the garage were varied with the cars grouped into three areas, German, Italian (including Western Europe) and American. The German group was heavy with Porsches, 911’s a 356 and a Carrera GT. In the Italian group there were several Lamborghinis, Ferraris and from the Europeans there was a Fiat and a Citroen with a custom wood boat-tail design. From the Americas we found a ’57, ’61, and ’63 Corvette, two early Corvairs some Mustangs, one a stock Shelby GT500, and if you’re a fan of the movie “Gone In Sixty Minutes” there was an “Eleanor” and a Cobra. Needless to say there was something for everyone taste in automobiles.
As our gathering drew to a close, and guests were on their way to other activities that day most everyone left behind positive comments about the morning’s event and a thank you. This event like other social gatherings we have hosted have all been successful and the Fun Committee is always looking for new ideas. If you know of something interesting to see or have ideas let us know. We would like to hear from you.
